Discovery's final flight
Source: Agencies |
February 20, 2011, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NASA will launch the first of three final space shuttle missions next week, sending the shuttle Discovery on its last flight on a long-delayed cargo run to the International Space Station, officials said on Friday.
Liftoff of the Discovery, NASA's senior spaceship, is targeted for Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Problems with the ship's fuel tank have kept the mission on hold since November. An unrelated hydrogen leak forced NASA to cancel a launch bid on November 5.
Technicians then discovered a crack in the insulating foam that covers the shuttle's fuel tank, a potentially serious safety issue. "The teams have done a great job. I think we're ready to go next week," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, told reporters.
Two spacewalks are planned during Discovery's weeklong stay at the station.
The 30-year-old shuttle program is ending due to high operating costs and to free up funds to develop rockets and spaceships that can fly beyond the station's orbit.
(Reuters)
Liftoff of the Discovery, NASA's senior spaceship, is targeted for Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Problems with the ship's fuel tank have kept the mission on hold since November. An unrelated hydrogen leak forced NASA to cancel a launch bid on November 5.
Technicians then discovered a crack in the insulating foam that covers the shuttle's fuel tank, a potentially serious safety issue. "The teams have done a great job. I think we're ready to go next week," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, told reporters.
Two spacewalks are planned during Discovery's weeklong stay at the station.
The 30-year-old shuttle program is ending due to high operating costs and to free up funds to develop rockets and spaceships that can fly beyond the station's orbit.
(Reuters)
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