Confirms Bolts Were Wrong Size, But Holding Fast

It was a complicated job that threatened the upcoming launch of the space shuttle Atlantis... replacing a set of possibly mis-sized bolts on the orbiter's all-important Ku-band antenna assembly. The job was made difficult by the fact that the antenna is bolted to the bulkhead separating the crew cabin from the payload bay and Atlantis is standing tall on the lauchpad... ready for lift-off next Sunday.

With just a week to go before that scheduled launch, repair crews used aerial platforms to reach the troubled antenna late Saturday night. They removed two short bolts from the assembly, and inserted longer bolts in their places.

NASA reports all went according to plan during the risky repair -- which shuttle program manager Wayne Hale compared earlier this week to working on a surfboard, suspended from six stories up.

Tracy Young, spokesperson for the Kennedy Space Center, confirmed the bolts removed from Atlantis were the wrong size -- a mistake made during the original manufacture of Atlantis some 25 years ago. The orbiter has flown 26 times since then. Despite the quarter-century-old error, the bolts were still holding securely.

With that project out of the way... Atlantis continues its countdown to launch on August 27.

"Everything is looking good," said Young.

FMI: www.nasa.gov