So much speculation here. Wasn't the tethered testing supposed to take place at the Palmdale hangar? Flying-J over at RB provided pictures (months ago) of the Palmdale hangar showing tall padded ladders (which would not damage a stratellite) and new gas tanks outside the hangar.
Get over it pokestake. You're hallucinating. the shuttle has nothing to do with the stratellite no matter how you look at it. Stick with the information available, don't make them up as you go.