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NASA officially began the last leg of their long walk back to manned space flight yesterday when they transported the Discovery shuttle out to its designated launch pad.

The upcoming Discovery launch marks the first of its kind since the Columbia shuttle disaster, which took place two years ago. However, this trip, performed by NASA's slow-moving crawler-transporter, did not come without incident. According to CBSNews.com:

The glacial, 1-mile-per-hour trip to the launch pad began at 2:05 p.m. EDT after a brief delay to discuss a hairline crack seen in the insulation covering Discovery's external fuel tank, reports CBS News Space Consultant Bill Harwood.

Engineers decided the two-inch-long crack did not require repair and a powerful Apollo-era crawler-transporter slowly hauled the shuttle and its mobile launch platform out of the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building and into a brilliant spring sky.

Looking on were scores of space center employees, reporters, tourists aboard visitor's center buses and even the crew of the international space station, which passed almost directly overhead around 4:30 p.m. If all goes well, Discovery will dock with the station three days after launch on the 114th shuttle mission.

The article goes on to say by NASA's completion of moving Discovery to the launch pad, the vehicle can still make its May 15 launch date. However, any further issues will, in all probability, delay the shuttle launch.

If Discovery has not launched by June 3, the window closes and does not open again until July 13 at the earliest.

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