The round-trip to the Vehicle Assembly Building means a minimum three-week hit to the schedule.

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One, Endeavour, is in the Vehicle Assembly Building being prepped for launch on November 29.

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The reason: cavernous as it may be, the Vehicle Assembly Building can only shelter two stacked shuttles.

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He also got a peek at the NASA engine shop, shuttle landing facility and control tower, vehicle assembly building, and mobile launch platforms, as well as several other difficult-to-remember locales.

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Even if that happens, launch managers feel they have enough time to install the OMS pod before Discovery rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the end of October.

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Atlantis is in the massive Vehicle Assembly building.

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What is not clear, as Mr Clark observes, is whether this figure refers to the whole programme including the new launch pad and assembly building at Jiuquan or simply to the cost of the spacecraft and the launch vehicle.

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