NASA scientists are working on Discovery in a huge hangar at the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the shuttle launch pads are located.

"Discovery is progressing after the completion of extensive wiring for return to flight, as well as the transition from its modification period to more regular processing," NASA said in a statement.

"Though Discovery appears unchanged from the outside, the orbiter is very different on the inside," it said.

Modifications to the shuttle, said NASA, will include the installation of 88 sensors on each wing.

"Sixty-six will measure acceleration and impact data and 22 will take temperature data during Discovery's climb to orbit," said the statement. "Ongoing tests have demonstrated these sensors can detect very small impacts."

The shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry on February 1, 2003, killing its seven crew members. The investigating commission blamed the disaster on damage to the shuttle's heat shield caused by the impact of ice chunks breaking off an auxiliary fuel tank during takeoff.

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