Discovery Overhaul Complete; Launch in Late August Possible

Jubilant space workers completed a 600-day overhaul of the space shuttle Discovery on Tuesday, a giant step toward a late summer launching of the first shuttle flight since Challenger exploded 2 1/2 years ago.

Cheers and applause broke out among several hundred workers who lined the 1,000-foot route as a tractor towed the 80-ton shuttle out of a processing facility and moved it to an assembly building.

At the assembly building over the next few days, Discovery will be joined with its external liquid fuel tank and two 126-foot solid fuel booster rockets. If there are no hitches, Discovery will be moved to Launching Pad 39B on June 30 to be readied for launching in late August or early September.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s latest launching assessment date is Sept. 3, but officials said it is still possible to achieve a late August liftoff.

Launching Pad 39B is where Challenger started its ill-fated journey on a cold Jan. 28, 1986. Seventy-three seconds after liftoff, the shuttle and its crew of seven were destroyed in a massive explosion.