Cape Canaveral, Florida (IPP) - The Space Shuttle Atlantis has been moved into its huge hangar for an overhaul and the addition of new external features.
The rear landing gear is being replaced with four sets of 18-wheeler truck tires. Another new feature is the addition of a propeller in the rear of the shuttle that came off of an old Florida frog hunter's air boat. The hunter is a cousin to one of the shuttle's mechanics and convinced the NASA Space Systems mechanic that these new features would improve the shuttle's performance.
The addition of the air boat motor and prop to the rear of the shuttle is designed to give the shuttle more manuverability when the medium airline sized spacecraft is operating in Earth's atmosphere. In space there is a vacuum and it is obvious that the prop system would be useless there.
