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Discovery Preps for Last Space Mission

   Launch winds down US space shuttle program

   Rosanne Skirble | Washington, D.C.  February 24, 2011
   The  space  shuttle  Discovery  is  prepared for launch at the Kennedy
   Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 23, 2011.

Photo: REUTERS

   The  space  shuttle  Discovery  is  prepared for launch at the Kennedy
   Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 23, 2011.

   As  [1]Discovery  begins  its  39th  and [2]final mission into Earth's
   orbit Thursday, Americaâs 30-year space shuttle program comes one step
   closer to its scheduled end this April.

   The  aging  fleet  of  reusable  spacecraft  has  become  an  American
   technology  icon,  ferrying  astronauts  and  mobile laboratories into
   space   and   helping   in   the  construction  and  resupply  of  the
   International Space Station. Â Â Â  Â
   Discovery has been a regular visitor to Earth's orbit since its maiden
   flight  in  1984.  It is the oldest and longest-serving vehicle in the
   U.S.  space  agencyâs  shuttle fleet. Discoveryâs final flight follows
   several  delays  due to technical problems and repairs to its external
   fuel  tank,  but  [3]NASAâs mission launch director Mike Leinbach says
   the shuttle is still space-ready.

   "Itâs her 39th mission and [there] would have been quite a few left in
   her  had  the program been extended, but it wasnât," he says. "It is a
   kind of bittersweet to get the last flight out of her, but sheâs going
   to perform perfectly fine in orbit and bring the crew home safely."

   Discoveryâs  11-day mission is a supply run to the International Space
   Station.  On  board  are  3,855  kilograms  of cargo including a large
   supply  closet,  a  replacement  radiator  and a humanoid robot helper
   named [4]Robonaut 2.

NASA

   Robonaut  (R2),  the  dexterous  humanoid astronaut helper, flexes its
   mechanical  muscles  prior  to  its  transport  aboard  space  shuttle
   Discovery to the International Space Station.

   Over  its  long  career in space, Discovery has been a real work horse
   says  Valerie  Neal,  shuttle curator at the [5]Smithsonianâs National
   Air  and  Space Museum in Washington. "Itâs delivered satellites. Itâs
   picked up and repaired satellites. Itâs flown scientific laboratories.
   It  delivered the [6]Hubble Space Telescope and then returned twice to
   service it. It flew twice to the Russian Space Station[7] MIR and then
   13 times to the[8] International Space Station."

   The  Discovery  is  linked  to  many  historic firsts. It was first to
   return  to  space  after  fatal  accidents destroyed its sister ships,
   [9]Challenger  and  [10]Columbia. It was the first to have a [11]woman
   pilot.   And  Neal  says  that,  despite  the  inevitable  dangers  of
   spaceflight,  Discovery  has  played  a  major  role in making it more
   routine.

   âCertainly  since  the  space  shuttle  began to fly, weâve had people
   going up five, six, seven eight, nine times a year," she says. "We had
   no  precedent  for flying into space for 30 years in the same vehicles
   over and over. Thatâs approaching routine spaceflight."
   At  NASA's  Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery's
   STS-133 crew on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway.

NASA

   At  NASA's  Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery's
   STS-133 crew on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway.

   NASA plans two more missions, one each for the remaining two orbiters,
   [12]Endeavor  and Atlantis, before the Shuttle program ends later this
   year.

   NASA  will  then have to rely on European, Russian and Japanese rocket
   launches  to carry astronauts and supplies into orbit until commercial
   U.S.  space ferries become fully operational, possibly within the next
   five  years.  In  the  meantime,  plans are still being worked out for
   putting  Discovery  and  the other retired space shuttles on permanent
   museum display.

References

   1. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/orbiters/discovery-info.html
   2. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts133/
   3. http://www.nasa.gov/
   4. http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/default.asp
   5. http://www.nasm.si.edu/
   6. http://hubble.nasa.gov/
   7. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/
   8. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
   9. http://history.nasa.gov/sts51l.html
  10. http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/home/index.html
  11. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/collins.html
  12. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/orbiters/orbitersend.html

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