Fri, Sep 28, 2007
In preparation for a targeted Oct.
23 launch, Discovery is set to roll from the Vehicle Assembly
Building out to the Launch Pad 39A aboard the crawler transporter
this weekend. Earlier in the week, the orbiter was attached to the
external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters atop the mobile
launch platform.
In the predawn hours Thursday, the payload canister for mission
STS-120 arrived at Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
The Italian-built U.S. Harmony module destined for the
International Space Center will be transferred to Discovery's
payload bay once the space shuttle reaches the pad.
STS-120 is the 23rd shuttle mission to the International Space
Station, and will launch an Italian-built U.S. multi-port module
for the station.
Retired Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy (pictured, right) will
command the STS-120 mission to take the Node 2 connecting module to
the station. Melroy, a veteran shuttle pilot, is the second woman
to command a shuttle. Marine Corps Col. George D. Zamka will serve
as pilot. The flight's mission specialists will be Scott E.
Parazynski, Army Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, Stephanie D. Wilson and
Paolo A. Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut from Italy.
Zamka, Wheelock and Nespoli will be making their first
spaceflight.
Expedition 15/16 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson will return to
Earth from the space station aboard shuttle mission STS-120. That
flight will carry his replacement, Daniel Tani, to the station.
Tani will return on shuttle mission STS-122.
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