Mounted onto a massive orange external fuel tank and two large solid-fuel rocket boosters, the space shuttle Discovery this week crawled to the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A. The shuttle is scheduled to launch May 31st on a construction mission to the International Space Station. Commanded by veteran NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, Discovery will be carrying the remaining third portion of JAXA’s Kibo Laboratory on a two-week mission.
The seven-member crew is projected to complete three spacewalks. Not only will they install the new segment of Kibo, but they will also move the already-attached sections of the laboratory from their current temporary berth to the station’s core module. The construction and outfitting of the lab will put the finishing touches on the installation of the ISS’s largest laboratory, with both internal and external experiment racks.
The preparation work for the launch of STS-124 Discovery has gone so well that the shuttle ground crew has an anticipated seven days of ‘cushion time’ to handle any unexpected glitches or problems that may arise. STS-124 is the third of five planned NASA space shuttle missions for 2008.
Mounted onto a massive orange external fuel tank and two large solid-fuel rocket boosters, the space shuttle Discovery this week crawled to the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A. The shuttle is scheduled to launch May 31st on a construction mission to the International Space Station. Commanded by veteran NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, Discovery will be carrying the remaining third portion of JAXA’s Kibo Laboratory on a two-week mission.
