Workers Load Satellite Aboard Shuttle
Workers at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday finished loading the space shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay with a $100-million satellite nearly identical to one destroyed in the 1986 Challenger explosion.
The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, designed to help ground controllers monitor shuttles and their payloads, is the principal cargo for the 26th space shuttle mission, scheduled for late September or early October.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials in Washington on Monday decided not to announce a date for the resumption of space shuttle flights until after a review Sept. 13-14, said spokesman Jim Kast. NASA had scheduled--and postponed--the launch five dates previously, beginning with July 15, 1987.
The satellite is to be deployed on the first day of the four-day Discovery mission.
A similar satellite was destroyed in the January, 1986, Challenger explosion, which killed seven. Space shuttle missions have been grounded since then.
NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher and the head of the shuttle program, Richard Truly, are on vacation and did not attend Monday’s senior staff meeting.
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