When was the space shuttle Discovery to to launch?
With seven astronauts and a host of experiments and equipment on board, space shuttle Discovery completed a flawless ascent into orbit Friday night to begin a two-day chase of the International Space Station. With Commander Rick “C.J. ” Sturckow at the controls, the shuttle lifted off on-time at 11:59 p.m. EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will rendezvous and dock with the station Sunday and the crew will begin transferring equipment to the outpost during the 13-day mission. After flying up on Discovery, Nicole Stott will trade places with station resident Tim Kopra, who went into space last month aboard Endeavour. Equipment and science racks for the orbiting laboratory are riding inside the Leonardo cargo module, which is secured tightly inside Discovery’s payload bay. The module will be lifted out of Discovery and locked onto the station so the crew can transfer the gear efficiently. The treadmill named for comedian Stephen Colbert also is aboard Discovery and
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.–Running four days late, the shuttle Discovery was refueled for launch late Friday for a 13-day mission to deliver more than 7.5 tons of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. With forecasters predicting a 60 percent chance of good weather, Discovery was scheduled for liftoff at 11:59 p.m. EDT. An 8-inch liquid hydrogen valve blamed for back-to-back launch delays earlier this week worked normally during fueling Friday and engineers did not have to exercise a waiver that would have permitted additional troubleshooting. The shuttle Discovery, poised for launch Friday atop pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. (Credit: NASA TV) Discovery’s crew–commander Frederick Sturckow, pilot Kevin Ford, flight engineer Jose Hernandez, Patrick Forrester, John “Danny” Olivas, European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang, and space station flight engineer Nicole Stott–planned to begin strapping in for launch around 8:40 p.m. EDT. Discovery’s initial
Running four days late, the shuttle Discovery was refueled for launch late Friday for a 13-day mission to deliver more than 7.5 tons of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. With forecasters predicting a 60 percent chance of good weather, Discovery was scheduled for liftoff at 11:59 p.m. EDT. An 8-inch liquid hydrogen valve blamed for back-to-back launch delays earlier this week worked normally during fueling Friday and engineers did not have to exercise a waiver that would have permitted additional troubleshooting.
With seven astronauts and a host of experiments and equipment on board, space shuttle Discovery completed a flawless ascent into orbit Friday night to begin a two-day chase of the International Space Station. With Commander Rick “C.J. ” Sturckow at the controls, the shuttle lifted off on-time at 11:59 p.m. EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will rendezvous and dock with the station Sunday and the crew will begin transferring equipment to the outpost during the 13-day mission. After flying up on Discovery, Nicole Stott will trade places with station resident Tim Kopra, who went into space last month aboard Endeavour. Equipment and science racks for the orbiting laboratory are riding inside the Leonardo cargo module, which is secured tightly inside Discovery’s payload bay. The module will be lifted out of Discovery and locked onto the station so the crew can transfer the gear efficiently. The treadmill named for comedian Stephen Colbert also is aboard Discovery and
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.–Running four days late, the shuttle Discovery was refueled for launch late Friday for a 13-day mission to deliver more than 7.5 tons of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. With forecasters predicting a 60 percent chance of good weather, Discovery was scheduled for liftoff at 11:59 p.m. EDT. An 8-inch liquid hydrogen valve blamed for back-to-back launch delays earlier this week worked normally during fueling Friday and engineers did not have to exercise a waiver that would have permitted additional troubleshooting. The shuttle Discovery, poised for launch Friday atop pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. (Credit: NASA TV) Discovery’s crew–commander Frederick Sturckow, pilot Kevin Ford, flight engineer Jose Hernandez, Patrick Forrester, John “Danny” Olivas, European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang, and space station flight engineer Nicole Stott–planned to begin strapping in for launch around 8:40 p.m. EDT. Discovery’s initial
