NASA set for Discovery's final launch

NASA set for Discovery's final launch

2011-01-26 08:51:27 GMT+7 (ICT)

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) -- NASA's Discovery space shuttle will be taken from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Pad 39A next Monday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to ready its final launch.

Six astronauts are set to launch aboard the shuttle on February 24. The STS-133 mission to the International Space Station is the final scheduled flight for Discovery before it is retired.

The 11-day mission will be the 35th flight to the station and the 39th flight for Discovery. The mission will deliver and install the Permanent Multipurpose Module; critical spare components for the space station; and the Express Logistics Carrier 4 - an external platform that holds large equipment.

In addition, Discovery will deliver Robonaut 2, or R2, to become a permanent resident of the station as the first human-like robot in space.

Discovery's first launch attempt on November 5, 2010, was scrubbed because of a gaseous hydrogen leak at the external fuel tank's ground umbilical carrier plate. The spacecraft was rolled off of the launch pad and back into the VAB on December 21, 2010, to allow technicians to perform X-ray type scans and repairs to Discovery's external tank.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-01-26