Columbia Being Readied for Liftoff in Unprecedented Shuttle Shuffle

The repaired space shuttle Columbia inched past its grounded sistership Atlantis and was returned to the launching pad Thursday for liftoff around Sept. 1 on a critical flight to end NASA’s long summer that saw no shuttle launchings.

In an unprecedented shuttle shuffle, Atlantis, crippled by a fuel leak, was rolled off launching pad 39A late Wednesday to make way for Columbia. The two vessels passed each other shortly before dawn Thursday, with Columbia completing its 3.5-mile trip to the seaside firing stand around noon.

If all goes well, Columbia, carrying five astronauts, two civilian astronomers and a cargo of telescopes, will blast off around Sept. 1 on a 10-day astronomy mission that was grounded on May 30 by a hydrogen leak. The ship has since been repaired.

If the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s revised launching schedule holds up, only seven shuttle missions at most--possibly as few as six--will be launched this year. The space agency originally hoped to launch as many as 10 flights in 1990.

One flight was lost because of problems readying the shuttle Discovery for launching earlier this year to carry the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit in April, and fuel leaks with Columbia and Atlantis have prevented any flights since then.