NASA fuels space shuttle for launch
(Updating with start of fueling)
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., March 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery was prepared for launch on Wednesday on a mission to finish installing the International Space Station's power system and deliver Japan's first live-aboard crew member.
Blastoff was scheduled for 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 GMT on Thursday) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Meteorologists forecast a 95 percent chance the weather would be suitable for launch, said NASA spokesman George Diller.
Shortly before noon, launch pad technicians began filling the shuttle's fuel tank with a half-million gallons (1.9 million litres) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Discovery's three engines will burn through the fuel in 8.5 minutes to reach its initial orbit 140 miles (224 km) above Earth.
Discovery's mission, the first of five targeted for this year, has been delayed a month due to safety concerns about fuel pressure valves, but after extensive testing and studies, managers cleared the ship for flight.
The shuttle is to spend two weeks in orbit to deliver a $300 million set of solar wing panels and a new distiller for the station's urine recycling system.
The panels are inside a 16-tonne module that will complete the station's 11-segment exterior backbone.
The seven-man crew includes Japan's Koichi Wakata, a two-time shuttle veteran who will stay behind on the space station to serve as a flight engineer after the shuttle departs. He replaces NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, who has been in orbit since November.
The station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations, has been under construction 220 miles (350 km) above Earth for more than a decade. The U.S. space agency has up to nine flights remaining to complete assembly, as well as a final servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope, before it retires the shuttle fleet next year. (Editing by Jane Sutton and Eric Beech)
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., March 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery was prepared for launch on Wednesday on a mission to finish installing the International Space Station's power system and deliver Japan's first live-aboard crew member.
Blastoff was scheduled for 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 GMT on Thursday) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Meteorologists forecast a 95 percent chance the weather would be suitable for launch, said NASA spokesman George Diller.
Shortly before noon, launch pad technicians began filling the shuttle's fuel tank with a half-million gallons (1.9 million litres) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Discovery's three engines will burn through the fuel in 8.5 minutes to reach its initial orbit 140 miles (224 km) above Earth.
Discovery's mission, the first of five targeted for this year, has been delayed a month due to safety concerns about fuel pressure valves, but after extensive testing and studies, managers cleared the ship for flight.
The shuttle is to spend two weeks in orbit to deliver a $300 million set of solar wing panels and a new distiller for the station's urine recycling system.
The panels are inside a 16-tonne module that will complete the station's 11-segment exterior backbone.
The seven-man crew includes Japan's Koichi Wakata, a two-time shuttle veteran who will stay behind on the space station to serve as a flight engineer after the shuttle departs. He replaces NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, who has been in orbit since November.
The station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations, has been under construction 220 miles (350 km) above Earth for more than a decade. The U.S. space agency has up to nine flights remaining to complete assembly, as well as a final servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope, before it retires the shuttle fleet next year. (Editing by Jane Sutton and Eric Beech)
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