| On 6 February select UK media were taken on a tour of John F Kennedy Space Center (KSC) as part of the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer Ultimate Flight press trip. Below are some exclusive photos taken by Flight International Space Reporter Rob Coppinger of Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle Disovery as it is being prepared for its May launch. |
| UK media visit Space Shuttle Discovery in bay three of KSC's orbiter processing facility. Bays one and two contain the Shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour. |
| British-born John Tribe, a former Rockwell International orbiter chief engineer, explains what goes on in bay three to journalists. Tribe left the UK to work on the US space programme in 1961. He retired in 1997. |
| The green patches are Discovery's painted aluminium structure. The thermal protection system (TPS) tiles at the nose are thicker than those at the aft sections due to the thermal load distribution. The socket is the forward attach point of the orbiter to the external tank (ET) which uses an explosive bolt. The light grey area (arrowhead) around the socket is a reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) material, also used for the Shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edges, which is stronger than tile and is required to accomodate the shock loads of the explosive bolt detonation. |
| Looking toward the end of the nose the green tags are indicators of recently attached tiles and tile gap filler. |
| Two bay three workers consider their next action while working on the port side ET liquid hydrogen interface area. |
| A TPS tile fitter demonstrates how he fits the tiles to the underside of Discovery's nose. |
| Here the rear landing gear is visible, while the doors are re-tiled. |
| From this angle more of Discovery's front and part of its mid section can be seen. |
Source: Flight International
