NASA Gives Green Light For Friday Flight Review
Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Mar 06, 2009 Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center are finishing up their work today in the back section of space shuttle Discovery in preparation for a tentative launch to the International Space Station next week. NASA Space Shuttle Program managers gave the go-ahead Wednesday for the Flight Readiness Review, or FRR, following an in-depth review of the testing and inspection data from space shuttle Discovery's gaseous hydrogen flow control valves. Managers concluded at yesterday's meeting that technicians do not need to add reinforcement to the area known as the elbow bend in the gaseous hydrogen pressure line, which is located near the flow control valves in Discovery's engine plumbing. Managers will hold a news conference following Friday's FRR and are expected to announce the official launch date for Discovery's STS-119 mission. The briefing is scheduled to begin no earlier than 2:30 p.m. EST at Kennedy. For planning purposes, launch is tentatively targeted for March 11 at 9:20 p.m. EDT. In anticipation of a launch date, the STS-119 crew has entered quarantine at NASA Johnson Space Center's Astronaut Quarantine Facility, where they will spend the day reviewing their flight plans. If the March 11 launch date is approved, Discovery's crew will fly to Kennedy on Sunday in advance of the start of the countdown, which begins at 7 p.m. Commander Lee Archambault will lead Discovery's crew of seven, along with Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata. The Discovery crew members are set to fly the S6 truss segment and install the final set of power-generating solar arrays to the International Space Station. The S6 truss will complete the backbone of the station and provide one-fourth of the total power needed to support a crew of six. Related Links Space Shuttle Shuttle at NASA Watch NASA TV via Space.TV Space Shuttle News at Space-Travel.Com
NASA moves up shuttle launch one day, to March 11 Washington (AFP) March 4, 2009 NASA said Wednesday it had moved up one day to March 11 the launch of its space shuttle Discovery on its 16-day mission to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS). |
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