The Nation - News from Feb. 1, 1989
The shuttle Discovery’s rollout to the launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, already running four days behind schedule, slipped from Thursday to Friday because of slow progress checking electrical and mechanical connections between the orbiter and its external tank and solid-fuel boosters, officials said. A NASA spokesman said the delay was not related to ongoing debate about replacing liquid oxygen turbopumps in the shuttle’s engine compartment. Cracks were found in key bearing assemblies in a pump for Atlantis’ Dec. 2 launch.
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