CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's space shuttle Discovery is ready for its July 13
launch and all outstanding issues have been settled, the agency's chief said
Tuesday.]
NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin told reporters that mission managers for
Discovery's STS-114 flight, the agency's first shuttle launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster, closed out a few minor items leaving only weather a concern for tomorrow's
scheduled liftoff.
"We're just
working through the normal closeouts and hoping that the weather gods are kind
for tomorrow," Griffin said during a press briefing here at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center (KSC). "We're in good shape."
Shortly
afterward, pad engineers discovered minor
damage to the orbiter and managed to repair it without affecting Discovery's
launch countdown.
Discovery
is set to launch seven astronauts spaceward at 3:50:53 p.m. EDT (1950:53 GMT)
on July 13, about seven seconds earlier than previously planned, NASA officials
said. Weather forecasts call for a 40 percent chance that thunderstorms and
rain - typical summer afternoon weather for NASA's spaceport - could prevent
the orbiter from launch.
"The crew
is just raring to go, and the guys who are doing all the closeout work on the
orbiter at the pad are also...they're pumped," Griffin said, adding that he also met
with the families of the STS-114 astronauts and visited the Discovery orbiter
today. "We're looking forward to tomorrow, as I'm sure you are, after two and a
half years down."
NASA's
three remaining space shuttles have been grounded since the destruction of the Columbia orbiter and loss of its STS-107 astronaut crew on Feb. 1, 2003. That shuttle broke
apart during reentry when hot atmospheric gases entered a hole in Columbia's wing
- damage caused at liftoff by a chunk of external tank foam debris. Since the
accident, NASA has worked to develop new ground and orbital tools and
inspection methods to prevent similar damage for Discovery's flight and track
it in the off chance that it occurs.
"The safety
changes that we've acquired are written in other people's blood," Griffin said, adding NASA must remain vigilant in order to maintain the technical and
cultural shifts the agency has made since the Columbia accident. "Whenever we
say 'it's good enough' is when we start slipping back again."
Griffin stressed that neither he nor mission
managers are pushing to launch Discovery under time or schedule pressure,
commonly referred to as "go fever."
"How do I know
we don't have 'go fever'?" Griffin said. "Because we're working through the
process and asking all the questions. If we can't answer them, we'll stop...it's
that simple.
While a
second space shuttle - Atlantis - has been readied as a rescue
ship for the STS-114 flight, such measures cannot be maintained indefinitely,
Griffin said.
"We will
not, for the long term, be able to maintain a rescue capability and still build
the space station," Griffin said. "We cannot afford to take an orbiter out of
the flow."
NASA has
weathered a difficult storm in its pursuit of human spaceflight, and after two
years it is once again time to fly, Griffin said.
"We've done
everything that we know to do," he added. "Are there things out there that we
don't know about? There may be, but we hope not."
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