CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA managers won't decide until next
month when to try launching Atlantis on the year's first space
shuttle mission, giving technicians more time to assess hail
damage to its external fuel tank, officials said Wednesday.
Atlantis originally was scheduled to lift off last week, but the
launch was postponed after golf-ball-size hail caused thousands
of dings on foam insulation on the fuel tank as the shuttle sat
on the launch pad last month. Bill Gerstenmaier, associate
administrator for space operations, said NASA managers probably
would wait until April 10 before deciding whether to use the
current tank -- which would leave open the possibility of flying
in May -- or swap it out with another tank -- which would push
back the next try until June. "We can get some more analysis
done; then we will have enough data to make a good decision,"
Gerstenmaier said. Technicians at the fuel tank's manufacturer
in Louisiana want time to practice applying foam on a mock-up of
its nose cone before t