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NASA Gives Go-Ahead for Thursday Shuttle Launch

   VOA News  February 23, 2011
   NASA  workers  walk near the external tank, rear, of the space shuttle
   Discovery  at  the  Kennedy  Space  Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida,
   February 23, 2011

Photo: AP

   NASA  workers  walk near the external tank, rear, of the space shuttle
   Discovery  at  the  Kennedy  Space  Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida,
   February 23, 2011

   The  U.S.  space  agency  NASA  has given the all-clear for Thursday's
   final launch of the space shuttle Discovery.
   In  a  unanimous  decision  Wednesday,  NASA's mission management team
   agreed  to  proceed  with  the  39th  mission for the oldest surviving
   shuttle.
   During  the  11-day  trip,  the  six  astronauts will deliver cargo, a
   storage  module  and  a  humanoid  robot  to  the  International Space
   Station. Two spacewalks and science experiments are also planned. Â
   First  launched  in  1984,  Discovery  has  logged  nearly 230 million
   kilometers, more than any other reusable spacecraft.
   Discovery's  mission  was originally scheduled for four month ago, but
   was  postponed  because  of a hydrogen leak and cracks in the external
   fuel tank.
   Only  two  shuttle  flights  remain  after  Discovery's  mission.  The
   shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis will be retired later this year.

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