Live at KSC: Shuttle Heads To Launch Pad

Blogger update, 12:25 p.m.: Discovery and its mobile launcher platform were "hard mated" to launch pad 39A at 12:17 p.m., completing a seven-hour, 3.4-mile rollout from Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building.

Shuttle Discovery is making its way to Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A today in advance of a planned Feb. 12 launch on an International Space Station construction mission.

With the shuttle mounted atop a mobile launcher platform, a giant tracked transporter is hauling the 11-million-pound load down the river-rock crawlerway that links the launch pad with the KSC Vehicle Assembly Building.

The 3.5-mile mile trip began with a first motion in the VAB at 5:17 a.m. EST -- about 77 minutes later than originally planned.

The slight delay was prompted by a little additional work with the purge on the shuttle solid rocket booster aft skirts and heaters on the launcher platform that must be operating if temperatures dip below 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can watch the rollout live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to see live coverage or refresh this page for the latest still images from live video feeds in the Launch Complex 39 area.

The shuttle should be out to the pad around 11:15 a.m.

Discovery and seven astronauts are slated to fly a mission to deliver the last segment of the station's central truss to the outpost. The so-called S6 truss is equipped with the last of four massive American solar wings that will provide electrical power to the station.

The 31,000-pound truss was moved from the Space Station Processing Facility to the launch pad on Sunday evening. The payload is to be installed in the orbiter's cargo bay over the weekend.