SPACEPHOTOS

(01/19/2001) -- Space Shuttle Atlantis (right) inches its way at 1 mph atop the crawler-transporter back to the Vehicle Assembly Building from Launch Pad 39A (upper left). A panorama view from the top of the VAB shows the proximity of the pad to the Atlantic Ocean (background) plus the 3.4-mile crawlerway leading from the pad to the VAB. The water areas on both sides of the crawlerway are part of the Banana River. In the VAB workers will conduct inspections, make continuity checks and conduct X-ray analysis on the 36 solid rocket booster cables located inside each booster’s external system tunnel. An extensive evaluation of NASA’s SRB cable inventory revealed conductor damage in four (of about 200) cables on the shelf. Shuttle managers decided to prove the integrity of the system tunnel cables already on Atlantis before launching. The launch has been rescheduled no earlier than Feb. 6