NASA as expected set Nov. 1 as the official launch date for shuttle Discovery's final mission at the conclusion of a flight readiness review here at Kennedy Space Center.Six astronauts will climb aboard Discovery at pad 39A next Monday, aiming to set sail for the International Space Station at 4:40 p.m.
NASA must launch the mission by Nov. 7 or delay the flight until late November or early December.
The sun angle on the station from Nov. 8 through Nov. 23 will be such that the outpost will not be able to generate enough electricity or dispel enough heat to support a docked shuttle.
A Russian Soyuz also is scheduled to return to Earth Nov. 29 with Expedition 25 crewmates Fyodor Yurchikhin, Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker. A new Soyuz crew is scheduled to launch Dec. 13 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and dock at the outpost on Dec. 15.
A news conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. You can watch live overage here in The Flame Trench. Click the NASA TV box on the right to launch our NASA TV viewer.
ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enlarge the NASA image of Discovery's astronauts at launch pad 39A during their practice countdown earlier this month. Left to right are pilot Eric Boe, mission specialist Michael Barratt, mission commander Steve Lindsey, mission specialist Tim Kopra, mission specialist Nicole Stott and mission special Al Drew. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.
3 comments:
Good luck Discovery--I'll be down there hopefully seeing it take off next Monday!
Cool picture of the crew!
It's not the same as Live, but i'll be watching nasa tv via the web here in england.Always watch the launches on Nasa TV.
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