NASA Updates Target Launch Date for Next Space Shuttle Flight

WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is targeting May 31 as
the launch date for shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission to deliver the large
Japanese Kibo Pressurized Module to the International Space Station. The
liftoff time is approximately 5:01 p.m. EDT.

NASA decided to reschedule Discovery's target launch date from May 25 to May
31 after shipment of the mission's external fuel tank from its assembly plant
at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to Florida was delayed by
weather. The tank arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March
26.

Additionally, NASA elected to move the liftoff date in order to avoid having
the launch team work through the Memorial Day weekend.

The official launch date for Discovery will be determined during the standard
Flight Readiness Review held approximately two weeks before launch.

Discovery's mission is the second of three flights that will launch components
to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. The
Japanese Pressurized Module will be the station's largest science laboratory,
measuring 37 feet long and 14 feet in diameter, about the size of a large tour
bus. The shuttle also will deliver the lab's robotic arm system that support
operations outside of Kibo. The lab's logistics module, which was installed in
a temporary location during STS-123 in March, will be attached to the new lab.

Mark Kelly will command the seven-member crew, which includes Pilot Ken Ham,
Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Jr., Mike Fossum, Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and Greg Chamitoff. Chamitoff
will replace Expedition 16/17 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman and remain
aboard the station as a member of the Expedition 17 crew. Reisman will return
to Earth with the STS-124 crew.

For more information about the STS-124 mission and its crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For more information about the space station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

SOURCE NASA

John Yembrick, Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358-0602,
john.yembrick-1@nasa.gov, or Kyle Herring, Johnson Space Center, Houston,
+1-281-483-5111, kyle.j.herring@nasa.gov, both of NASA