SPACE SHUTTLE SITS OUT RAIN IN LOANED HANGAR, GETS TAIL WET 2 SPACECRAFT AWAITING FLIGHTS HOME STRAIN SHELTER FACILITIES AT AIR BASE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - NASA will try again today to send the space shuttle Columbia on its way back to Florida, but rainy weather will likely keep the orbiter in Palmdale until Wednesday.

Columbia was attached to its Boeing 747 carrier on Saturday in anticipation of starting its cross-country flight to Florida, but the flight was delayed because of the rain.

Officials in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration do not want to ferry the shuttles in rain because of the damage that could be done to the protective tiles and blankets.

The Columbia and the 747 in tandem are too large to go back into the Boeing hangar for the shuttle, so the aircraft are being housed temporarily in one of SR Technics America's nearby hangars.

The hangar, which was built for the production of the B-1B bomber in the 1980s, is large enough to hold all but the tail of the mounted shuttle, which sticks out the door.

``They (SR Technics officials) are very nice to let us use it,'' said NASA spokesman James Hartsfield. ``Hopefully we won't wear out our welcome.''

Columbia had been in Palmdale for 17 months for inspections and modifications, including the replacement of 1970s-style cockpit gauges and instruments with touch screens.

The space shuttle Atlantis has been in Palmdale since Feb. 20, when it was diverted from landing at Florida because of bad weather. Atlantis' crew spent five days in space attaching a key laboratory to the International Space Station.

Workers at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base also were preparing Atlantis for its ferry flight back to Florida.

On Monday, workers were attaching the aerodynamic cone to cover Atlantis' main engines. Atlantis could be mounted on top of NASA's other shuttle carrier as early as today if the weather cooperates.

If both shuttles are ready to go on Wednesday, Atlantis would leave first and Columbia would have to wait another day. Atlantis gets the priority because it is scheduled to fly into space in June, while Columbia's next mission is in August.

NASA officials do not want to have two shuttles atop their carriers in Florida at the same time, leaving one waiting in the elements for its turn in the gantry to be taken off the 747.

Also, NASA officials want to be sure that no more than one loaded shuttle carrier at a time could need to make a stopover at any of the designated landing areas en route to Florida.

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Photo:

(color) The space shuttle Columbia, atop a 747 for a ride to Florida, waits out the rain Monday in a borrowed hangar at Palmdale.

Jane Lawhome/Special to the Daily News