Discovery Attached to External Tank Following Separation Bolt Fix

Space shuttle Discovery now is fully attached to its external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters. The final process known as "hardmate" was complete at 9:27 a.m. EDT.

Technicians resolved an issue with a main separation bold nut early Saturday morning that held up mate operations for almost a day.

The nut slipped back into Discovery's aft compartment Friday morning as technicians were attaching the left-side main separation bolt on the bottom of the shuttle to the external tank in NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida. The right-side bolt already had been attached. No hardware was damage in the incident.

After thoroughly evaluating the situation and developing a plan to fix the problem, technicians put up several platforms Friday night and used them to enter Discovery’s aft section through an access door. They then moved the nut back into position and finished attaching the bold, which is used to separate Discovery from the external tank once the shuttle is in orbit.

Discovery still is on track to be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A as scheduled on Sept. 20. The shuttle and its six astronaut crew are targeted to launch on the STS-133 mission with supplies and a new module for the International Space Station on Nov. 1.