Discovery being fueled for launch

Discovery has been fueled.

Facing a daunting weather forecast, but no technical issues, the space shuttle team is fueling the vehicle for launch.

The Mission Management Team just gave the go-ahead just after 2 a.m. to start pumping a half-million gallons of propellants into the external tank. The tanking process will last about three hours.

There have been no technical issues aired yet that appear worthy of preventing a launch today, save a forecast of 60 percent "no go" weather conditions at launch time. We'll have a fully-updated weather report as soon as it becomes available.

The launch crews are working toward a liftoff time of 11:38 a.m. this morning. If Discovery blasts off today, the spaceship and seven astronauts will begin a two-week mission to expand the International Space Station that is the most complex to date.

The timeline for the rest of this morning's big events looks like this:

2:23 a.m.: Liquid hydrogen fueling begins.

5:13 a.m.: Tanking complete for launch.

6:38 a.m.: Crew gets weather briefing.

7:48 a.m.: Astronauts head for launch pad.

8:18 a.m.: Astronauts board Discovery.

11:38 a.m.: Liftoff.

If you're joining us early overnight, we'll have coverage of all of those events and any other news from the launch site throughout the wee hours this morning.

You can also look over our STS-120 launch day extras page.