Shuttle technicians are preparing to get inside the space shuttle Atlantis鈥� belly to replace two suspect bolts holding a communications antenna to the side of the payload bay.
鈥淭he plan is to go in and [replace them] this weekend,鈥� says Kennedy Space Center spokesperson Tracy Young.
Four bolts secure the antenna to the shuttle. Two of those may be too short and may not have enough threads going through the nuts on the other side.
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So engineers conducted an analysis to determine whether the two longer bolts would be strong enough to hold the antenna in place during the heavy vibrations experienced during liftoff. NASA has now decided to replace the short bolts.
Late on Friday, two technicians will start building scaffolding on a platform in the shuttle鈥檚 cargo bay to reach the bolts 鈥� a process that has been likened to holding a surf board over a six-story balcony (see Shuttle Atlantis to launch as soon as possible).
The bolts could potentially be replaced on Saturday, and NASA says the work is not likely to delay Atlantis鈥檚 scheduled 27 August liftoff.
On its 11-day mission, Atlantis will carry a 15,000-kilogram (35,000-pound) truss segment, including electricity-generating solar arrays, to the International Space Station.
