Space Shuttle Discovery in Good Shape for May Launch

NASA's shuttle Discovery is on track to ferry seven astronauts and a large Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS) later this month.

Shuttle commander Mark Kelly told reporters Thursday that Discovery?s preparations are going extremely smoothly for its planned May 31 launch from NASA?s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

?From what I was told yesterday, the condition of the orbiter and the number of problems we?ve had with it have been at a historic low,? Kelly said from Discovery?s seaside Pad 39A launch site. ?So that makes us feel really good.?

Kelly and his STS-124 astronaut crew are in the final weeks of preparation for their planned 13-day mission to the ISS, where they will deliver Japan?s massive 37-foot (11-meter) Kibo laboratory during three spacewalks.

The astronauts are currently at NASA?s Florida spaceport for a three-day training session to practice launch and escape procedures, as well as practice donning their bright orange pressure suits for liftoff and landing. They will stage a dress rehearsal of their final hours before launch on Friday and cap the training simulation with an emergency escape drill.

?We?ve got a little bit of training and a little bit of practice to go,? Discovery mission specialist Mike Fossum said this week. ?We?ll be ready to take off in a few weeks.?

According to the United Space Alliance, NASA?s shuttle contractor, engineers have tackled only 40 glitches with Discovery - the fewest ever in the entire 27-year history of shuttle flight - in their bid to ready the orbiter for its late May liftoff. The second-lowest number of issues - 76 in all - occurred in April 2001 as engineers were again preparing Discovery for flight, USA officials said.

"The reason the shuttle has fewer maintenance issues is a lot of hard work that has gone into making the hardware, processes, and software better along with a little bit of luck,? said Mark Nappi, USA?s program manager for ground operations, in a statement. ?We are seeing it across the board on all processing.?

Discovery?s STS-124 mission will mark NASA?s third shuttle flight of the year dedicated to hauling a new orbital room to the high-flying space station. The shuttle Atlantis delivered Europe?s Columbus laboratory to the station in February and was followed by the Endeavour orbiter carrying an attic-like storage room for Japan?s Kibo lab.

NASA now hopes to launch a total of five shuttle flights this year, which include four station construction flights and a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. A planned sixth flight, slated for flight in December, has been pushed to early 2009 due to fuel tank delivery delays, mission managers have said.

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