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When Discovery launches U.S. Sen. John Glenn and six other crew members into orbit on Oct 29, 1998, a difference will be noticed. Since Columbia's maiden flight 17 years ago, the NASA logo dabbed, "the worm", has adorned the shuttle fleet. It is now gone. Instead, one of NASA's original blue "meatball" emblems now decorates each side of the fuselage. A larger meatball - 6 feet in diameter - has been painted on the left wing. Approximately 100 or so spectators caught a glimpse of Discovery's new look Monday, (9/14) when workers rolled the shuttle from the service hangar to Kennedy Space Center's giant Vehicle Assembly Building. KSC officials said Discovery's latest paint job was scheduled long ago, the time, right before Glenn's flight, is coincidence. With NASA celebrating its fortieth birthday Oct 1, and the Glenn launch scheduled four weeks later, paint brushes have been very visible. But by far the biggest job has been refurbishing the facade of the 525 foot high Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) A dozen workers are using 700 gallons of red, white and blue to coat the front of the building and hide its 22 year old US Bicentennial symbol, and replacing it with the world's largest meatball, covering 12,300 square feet. (complete article Orlando Sentinel Online, Sep 15, 1998)
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