Shuttle Discovery on Track for Wednesday Launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With less than two days remaining its countdown, NASA's space shuttle Discovery is still on track for a July 13 launch, shuttle officials said Monday.

After more than three hours of spirited discussion here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), mission managers said only minor issues remain unresolved for Discovery's STS-114 mission, NASA's first planned shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster.

"We have a couple of loose ends to tie up," said Wayne Hale, deputy manager for NASA's shuttle program, after the first pre-launch meeting of the spaceflight's mission management team (MMT). "I wouldn't consider them major [but] I would say that we do have to resolve those issues before we go fly."

Current sitting atop Launch Pad 39B, Discovery is scheduled to launch seven astronauts into orbit on July 13 at 3:51 p.m. EDT (1951 GMT). The 12-day spaceflight is expected to deliver more than 28,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and test new orbiter inspection and repair techniques to increase shuttle flight safety.

The Columbia orbiter was destroyed, its crew lost, when it broke apart during reentry on Feb. 1, 2003. Investigators later attributed the accident to wing damage caused by external tank debris shaken loose at launch. NASA has spent the last two and a half years working to limit external tank launch debris, and installed new sensors and cameras on Discovery and its external tank to scrutinize the vehicle's launch.

Hale, who chaired the MMT meeting, said that questions still remain over four external tank fuel level sensors that failed on Discovery's launch stack during an April tanking test, though engineers have since switched the orbiter to a new external tank. Engineers are also working through the night to close paperwork for new tools developed for the tile and reinforced carbon-carbon panel repair techniques to be tested during the STS-114 mission, he added.

"We anticipate very positive results tomorrow," said Bill Parsons, NASA's shuttle program manager, during a press briefing.

Discovery's mission is the first of two planned test flights to evaluate shuttle and external tank modifications performed in response to the Columbia accident. Both flights will be launched to the ISS, which has gone without a major shuttle resupply since 2002. Construction plans have all but halted for the orbital facility since some components can only be launch aboard NASA shuttles, and crew sizes have been limited to two astronauts instead of the nominal three.

"This is probably the most pivotal, critical moment to continue assembly of the station that we've had," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's ISS program manager, of Discovery's mission. "We can't continue the assembly of the space station without the shuttle and this mission is the beginning of that."

Hale said that while NASA has taken great steps to increase shuttle safety, human spaceflight is still a risky endeavor.

"There comes a point in time when you decide you have reached an acceptable risk," Hale said. We've reached that point...now's the time to go fly."

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