Discovery's Eric Boe, Mike Barratt, Steve Lindsey, Tim Kopra, Nicole Stott and Al Drew relax during a countdown rehearsal earlier this month. Discovery looms behind them at Launch Pad 39A. Photo Credit/NASA
NASA on Monday gave the shuttle Discovery and a crew of six astronauts the green light for a Nov. 1 launching of the 26-year-old orbiter’s final flight, an 11-day mission to the International Space Station.
The shuttle’s crew has trained to deliver a new equipment storage module and conduct a pair of spacewalks. The astronauts will also drop off Robonaut 2, a humanoid, for studies of how well the machine is suited to assisting space travelers with an assortment of duties outside as well as inside the orbiting science laboratory.
Discovery’s launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 4:40 p.m, EDT. Large crowds of onlookers are expected to gather in Florida to mark the shuttle program’s approaching retirement. The final scheduled flight, aboard Endeavour, is slated for a Feb. 27 lift off. Atlantis could make the “final” final flight in mid-2011, if Congress and the White House agree to the $600 million price tag.
“We’re in great shape out at the pad,” Mike Leinbach, the NASA shuttle launch director, told a briefing that followed NASA’s traditional Flight Readiness Review on Monday. The review settled on a Nov. 1 launch date after technicians scrambled over the weekend to stop a small leak of fuel in Discovery’s Orbital Maneuvering System.
“I see no reason right now at all that we can’t get into the launch countdown per plan on Friday afternoon,” Leinbach told news reporters.
If not in orbit by Nov. 7, Discovery’s crew would likely have to wait until early December before making further launch attempts.
Steve Lindsey will command a crew that includes pilot Eric Boe, flight engineer Tim Kopra and mission specialists Mike Barratt, Al Drew and Nicole Stott.
After docking with the space station, Kopra and Drew will carry out a pair of spacewalks. During the outings, they will take on a range of tasks that were deferred from August, when the station experienced a sudden partial shutdown of the external cooling system. Station astronauts rushed to restore the vital thermal control system by replacing a failed circulation pump. Kopra and Drew will move and prepare the failed pump for a possible trip back to Earth aboard Atlantis. They will install additional external lighting, extend a power cord and adjust some thermal insulation.
The new 21 foot long storage module was once known as Leonardo. Built by the European Space Agency, Leonardo carried supplies to and from the station inside the shuttle’s cargo bay. After a final mission earlier this year, Leonardo received new micro meteoroid shielding to prepare it for a permanent perch on the station.
The mission will be the 39th for the fleet leading Discovery. The storied spacecraft launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 and led NASA’s return to space following the 2003 and 1986 shuttle Columbia and Challenger tragedies.
If all goes well, Discovery’s final voyage will end with a landing at Kennedy on Nov. 12 at 10:38 a.m., EDT.