Roll Back for Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery to Roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, NASA
“Shuttle managers also decided late Monday afternoon that following the tanking test they plan to roll Discovery back into Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to allow its external tank to undergo additional image scans. Rollback is expected to occur 4-5 days after the tanking test. Once in the VAB, technicians would collect X-ray data on stringers on the back side of the external tank midsection, called the intertank, which is not accessible at the launch pad. Additionally, the test instrumentation and foam insulation on those areas of the intertank would be removed and the area would be prepared again for launch. In parallel, the back side stringer inspections would take.”