LIVE IMAGES: Refresh this page for the latest still image from a live video feed at Kennedy Space Center's launch complex 39A and be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.
NASA backed a towering steel veil away from shuttle Discovery early today as countdown continued to the planned launch of a mission to deliver a new set of American solar wings to the International Space Station.
The Rotating Service Structure at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A started moving away from the spaceship about 1:30 a.m. The rollback took about 45 minutes to complete, and Discovery now is in full view on its beachfront launch pad.
The rollback set the stage for NASA to begin loading more than 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into Discovery's 15-story external tank. The fuel-loading operation is scheduled to begin around noon and is expected to take three hours to complete.
Discovery and seven astronauts remain scheduled for launch at 9:20 p.m., and the weather forecast is 90-percent "go."
You can watch NASA TV and Florida Today live coverage of the countdown and launch live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer.
We'll have a special live experimental webcam countdown update at 12:30 p.m. or 12:45 p.m.
Then we'll bring up live NASA TV Commentary at 4 p.m. followed by NASA interviews with Discovery Flow Manager Stephanie Stilson at 4:06 p.m. and NASA Payload Manager Robby Ashley at 4:18 p.m.
Discovery's crew will suit up at 5 p.m. and then we'll open up a series of live shots with former astronaut Charlie Precout at 5:15 p.m.
Now with shuttle booster manufacturer ATK, Precourt will talk about the upcoming Ares I-X test flight and what it's like to depart crew quarters for the launch pad on launch day.
You can watch Discovery mission commander Lee Archambault and the rest of the astronauts walk out of crew quarters at the Operations & Checkout Building at 5:30 p.m.
Then join us for Florida Today coverage that will include:
++6 p.m.: A countdown status update and interview with United Space Alliance Vice President Anne Martt. Topic: A special experiment that will be done during Discovery's atmospheric reentry and landing.
++6:30 p.m.: Carter Reznik of Boeing Co. will join us to talk about the difficulty involved with unfurling a 240-foot set of solar wing that have been boxed up since 2002.
++7 p.m.: We'll have a countdown update and an interview with Florida Today space reporter John Kelly on the chances of launching 10 remaining shuttle flights before a White House deadline in late 2010.
++7:30 p.m.: As the sun sets, we'll interview Florida Today photographer Craig Bailey on how to take spectacular night launch photographs.
++8 p.m.: Join us as we talk with Florida Today reporter James Dean about the shuttle crew and in particular, Joe Acaba, who taught science at Melbourne High School before becoming an astronaut.
++8:30 p.m.: NASA astronaut Kay Hire, the first former KSC worker to gain acceptance to the NASA Astronaut Corps and then fly in space, will join us. We'll talk about her recent selection to the crew of STS-130, which will haul up Node 3 and Cupola next February.
++9 p.m.: We'll have a countdown update and an interview with NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, one of the only set of twins ever selected to the astronaut corps.
NASA is scheduled to come out of its final built-in hold at 9:11 p.m. and we'll be rejoining NASA TV Commentary for the final nine-minute countdown to launch.
Liftoff is scheduled at 9:20 p.m.
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