Space shuttle to move to launch pad

Press, 29 December 1980, Page 6

Space shuttle to move to launch pad

NZPA Cape Canaveral, " "• . /Florida

. Space- Agency officials gave final 'approval at the week-end for the Space Shuttle Columbia-r. to be rolled out of its assembly building and moved to the launching pad at Cape Canaveral. ”We are going for Monday arid we do "not expect any problems ,in being ready for the move,” said Mr John Yardley,'/a 'spokesman for the- National Aeronautics arid Space Administration ( iohn Young, and Robert Crippen, the astronauts- who have been waiting to fly the first shuttle into orbit, will be on hand to watch the Columbia embark on a seven-hour Journey from its assembly building to the launching pad near the Atlantic Ocean. The pad is only 5.6 km

from the . assembly building, but the move is expected to take most of a day because many inspections . will be needed to make sure the shuttle is kept level. The 1.2 million kg shuttle, mounted on its mobile launcher, will travel on a huge crawler vehicle. By tomorrow, workers should begin final .preparations for launching the shuttle. The launch, three years behind schedule, is planned for March ar April. - ‘.The most critical tests will be held in February, when a 20-second test firing is planned- for the Columbia’s maip engines. Any problems, uncovered during firing would cause a twoweek to three-week delay for additional firing tests. The winged shuttle is designed to be launched by rocket engines into orbit, and then glide back to Earth for use in further missions.