Thursday, October 07, 2010

Payload For Discovery's Nov. 1 Flight Arrives At Launch Pad

What will be the last permanent U.S. addition to the International Space Station arrived at its Kennedy Space Center launch pad today as NASA pressed ahead with preparations for the Nov. 1 flight of Discovery.

Housed inside a canister the size and shape of the shuttle's cargo bay, the Permanent Multipurpose Module made an overnight trip to launch pad 39A from the Space Station Processing Facility in the KSC Industrial Area.

The cargo carrier is a modified Multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM), one of three built by Italy to haul supplies and equipment up to the station within the shuttle's payload bay. NASA and its 15 international partners decided to upgrade the Leonardo module so it could serve as a storage area at the outpost.

Extra debris shielding was fitted beneath the hull of the module and hardware not required for long-duration flight was removed to reduce weight. Parts of the interior of the module were reworked to make it more user-friendly for station crews. It will be attached to the Earth-facing port of the U.S. Unity module on the sixth day of Discovery's final flight.

The payload also includes a pallet that will carry up spare parts, including an extra radiator, and Robonaut, a humanoid robot that is designed to perform tasks a spacewalking astronaut might otherwise have to complete.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obama job stimulus program

Anonymous said...

The shuttle was scheduled to be replaced and you critics knew it. What I didn't know was Obama was going to pull the carpet out from under the remaining workers. As for costs, I'd like to know what SpaceX charges per pound/LEO vs after all competitors are gone? I'll bet it'll exceed and COA ever seen!

Anonymous said...

Obama better not show his rotten face at the last shuttle launch. Just stay home and laugh your arse off. We don't need to see it.

Anonymous said...

Last payload...
Last Mission for Discovery...
Last External tank...
Last SRB stack...
Lasting tourture and misery...
Lasting pontification here on this forum...

Just process the vehicles and get it over with.
Be proud.
Be strong.
Quit crying and walk away.
Justlike the men of Apollo.

Mark Lopa said...

Yeah, but the men of Apollo had the space shuttle half way through development and two years away from testing Enterprise when their program ended. What do we have to look forward to?

Anonymous said...

Project Apollo's destruction was a national tragedy!
The U.S. will never return to the moon.

Destroying U.S. manned space program with no immediate replacement -- is a national shame and government stupidity!

We will probably never have manned spaceflight again.

Anonymous said...

> We will probably never have manned spaceflight again.

No doubt.

Anonymous said...

Uh, they are launching Rafaello on STS-135 as the second PMM if it goes most likely.

Graham (from england) said...

If i get over there to see the very last launch,it will be a very emotional occasion.But i will still be angry underneath,because the transition to the next whatever is just totally shambolic. Ares should NEVER EVER have been scrapped.Obama has got it BADLY wrong and it will be proved so.!! I will be dead by the time americans have gone back to the moon, to learn how to live there and in turn use that knowledge to attempt a mission to mars.And i'm only 47.!! In my world you decide on a plan and you carry that through to fruition.JFK is rolling in his grave right now .