Shuttle Discovery is on its way to its Kennedy Space Center launch pad today after rolling out of its assembly building in advance of a planned April 5 launch.With the shuttle mounted atop a mobile launcher platform, a giant crawler-transporter parked beneath it began edging out of the KSC Vehicle Assembly Building at 11:58 p.m. Tuesday. The diesel-powered transporter revved up to a top speed of a little less than one mph and slowly chugged down the river rock crawlerway that links the assembly building and the pad.
Stiff wind gusts were blowing on Florida's Space Coast, but the weather was not a factor. A shuttle rollout or rollback can take place in sustained winds of 40 knots (46 mph) with gusts to 60 knots (69 mph). The winds were forecast to be about 20 knots (23 mph) with gusts to 30 knots (34.5 mph).The 3.5-mile trip was expected to take about six to seven hours to complete. Live NASA TV coverage of the rollout will begin here in The Flame Trench at 6:30 a.m. Click the NASA TV box on the right side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer.
Technicians will spend the day making and verifying mechanical and electrical connections between the shuttle, its mobile launcher platform and ground support equipment at the pad.Call to stations for the STS-131 Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT, will be at 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
Discovery's astronauts will hold an informal Q&A with reporters at the pad at 8:40 a.m. Thursday. Live NASA TV coverage will begin at 8:40 a.m.
Discovery's astronauts will board the shuttle Friday for the last few hours of the two-day practice countdown, which is the last major KSC training exercise for shuttle crews prior to launch.
Discovery is scheduled to blast off at 6:27 a.m. April 5 on one of only four missions remaining before shuttle fleet retirement. Mission commander Alan Poindexter and his crew will haul up an Italian-made cargo carrier full of science racks, supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.
Discovery will be piloted by James Dutton. The mission specialists on the flight are Rick Mastracchio, Dorothy Metcalf-Lichtenburger, Clay Anderson, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge the NASA images of Discovery rolling out of High Bay 1 at the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to Launch Pad 39A. Rollout is a significant milestone in launch processing activities. The seven-member STS-131 crew will deliver the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, filled with resupply stowage platforms and racks, to the International Space Station aboard Discovery. Targeted for launch on April 5, STS-131 will be the 33rd shuttle mission to the station and the 131st shuttle mission overall. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller
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NASA IMAGES ROCK! AND FT ROCKS! What can I say? This is history been recorded and we cannot do it better! Thank you and congratulations! NASA is making history through FT! Thanks, for all the taxpayers in the US.
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