NASA's Space Shuttle
Discovery To Move To Launch Pad Saturday
(29 April 2008) Space shuttle
Discovery is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center, Fla., on Saturday, May 3, as preparations for the STS-124 mission move
forward.
Discovery is targeted to lift off May 31 on a 13-day
mission to the International Space Station.
The first motion of the
shuttle out of Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building is scheduled for 12:01 a.m.
EDT. The space shuttle vehicle, consisting of the orbiter, external tank and
twin solid rocket boosters, was fully assembled on the mobile launcher platform
and will be delivered to the pad atop a crawler transporter. The crawler slowly
moves the shuttle out to the pad at less than 1 mph during its 3.4-mile
journey. The process is expected to take approximately six hours.
NASA
Television will provide live coverage of Discovery's rollout to the launch pad
starting at 6:30 a.m. Video highlights of the rollout will air on the NASA TV
Video File.
The mission will deliver the Kibo laboratory's large
Japanese Pressurized Module, or JPM, and its remote manipulator system to the
International Space Station. Three spacewalks will be conducted during the
flight.
Discovery will be commanded by Mark Kelly. Ken Ham will be the
pilot. The mission specialists are Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Greg
Chamitoff and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
Chamitoff will remain on the station as a resident crew member, replacing
station Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who will return home on
Discovery.
(source: NASA)
