NASA finishes 1st day of launch review

NASA managers and engineers finished the first day of a two-day flight readiness review today while preparations for the planned July 1 launch of shuttle Discovery continued at Kennedy Space Center.

During the review, managers addressed work done to prepare Discovery for flight as well as the resolution of all technical issues that cropped up during and since the agency's first post-Columbia test flight last July.

Chief among them: the removal of a 38-foot-long wedge of foam insulation designed to serve as a windshield for pressurization lines and electrical cabling that run along the outside of the shuttle's external tank. In a haunting reminder of the 2003 Columbia accident, a one-pound piece of foam from the Protuberance Air Load (PAL) ramp broke free from Discovery's tank two minutes into flight, nearly striking the shuttle's right wing as the ship thundered toward space.

Wind tunnel tests have shown that aerodynamic forces will not rip the lines or the cabling off the tank without the wind deflector in place to protect them. A firm launch date for Discovery's mission will be selected Saturday afternoon after the conclusion of the meeting.

At launch pad 39B, technicians are completing work in the shuttle's rear engine compartment and preparing to load three spacesuits into an airlock in the ship's cargo bay. The suits will be worn during up to three spacewalks planned for Discovery's mission. Then they'll be left at the International Space Station for use at the orbiting outpost.

Meanwhile, the stacking of two solid rocket boosters for Atlantis is continuing inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. Crane operators hoisted one of the segments for the shuttle's lefthand SRB. Atlantis must be nearly ready for flight before the Discovery launch in case the ship has to be pressed into service for a rescue mission.

Image note: Refresh this page to see the latest image capture from a live video feed at launch pad 39B, where shuttle Discovery is being prepared for a planned July 1 launch.