NASA to pull hail-pummeled shuttle off launch pad

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, Feb 27 (Reuters) The US space shuttle Atlantis will be moved from its launch pad to a hangar due to damage caused by a hailstorm to the fuel tank, NASA said today.

It was not immediately clear if the move would delay the next launch, which is scheduled for March 15, but the US space agency generally needs three weeks to ready a shuttle for liftoff once it is on the pad.

The fuel tank was damaged late on Monday after thunderstorms moved into the area around Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said spokeswoman Tracy Young. Mixed in with the rain were chunks of ice that drilled into exposed parts of the shuttle.

The shuttle, which is perched at an oceanside launch pad, is wrapped in a protective metal structure but much of its fuel tank and twin solid rocket motors are open to the elements.

''The remote cameras indicate some damage,'' Young said before the decision to take the shuttle off the pad was announced.

NASA said it would give more details at a news conference.

REUTERS SBA RN0222