Shuttle Discovery Departs Kennedy's VAB For Second Bid at Final Flight. Photo Credit/NASA TV
Shuttle Discovery left the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center late Monday — bound for the launch pad for what is likely the last time.
Discovery headed for Launch Pad 39A, where the spacecraft is tentatively scheduled to lift off on Feb. 24 for what will be her 39th and final mission.
Discovery’s “roll out” follows nearly three months of troubleshooting into small cracks found in the stringer section of the shuttle’s external fuel tank. The engineering detective work followed a Nov. 5 launch scrub.
The cracked stringers were repaired and dozens of others modified to prevent further damage after the scrub. Discovery was hauled from the launch pad to the VAB, where most of the evaluation and repair work took place, on Dec. 22.
Discovery’s assembly mission to the International Space Station is planned for 11 days.
Six astronauts have trained to equip the station with an equipment stowage module and an external platform for spare parts. Two spacewalks are planned as well.
Top agency officials plan to gather at Kennedy on Feb. 18 for a Flight Readiness Review that will culminate in a formal launch date determination.
During the troubleshooting, Discovery spacewalker Tim Kopra suffered a hip injury in a bicycle accident. He was replaced by Steve Bowen, who joins Discovery commander Steve Lindsey, pilot Eric Boe, fellow spacewalker Alvin Drew and mission specialists Nicole Stott and Michael Barratt.
Two more shuttle missions are planned.
They include a 14-day flight aboard Endeavour with a six-member crew that has trained to equip the station with the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, an external astronomical observatory for studies of cosmic rays.
Endeavour’s flight is planned for an April 19 lift off.
NASA hopes to launch Atlantis and a crew of four on a lengthy station supply mission on June 28, or later this year. The White House and Congress have not yet funded the voyage.
