Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Shuttle Getting Woodpecker Defense

Its woodpecker holes repaired, space shuttle Discovery will be protected by “Predator Eyes” when it returns to the Kennedy Space Center launch pad today--a balloon covered with six sinister-looking eyes intended to frighten away woodpeckers during the four-mile, six-hour trip from the hangar to the pad. Discovery’s 15-story fuel tank was attacked by a pair of yellow-shafted flicker woodpeckers last month. Woodpeckers drilled 195 holes in the insulating foam of Discovery’s fuel tank. NASA rolled the shuttle back to the hangar for repairs and postponed its June 8 satellite-delivery mission until mid-July.