As
engineers prepare NASA's the space shuttle Discovery for a July launch, the
orbiter's next astronaut crew is training hard for the upcoming spaceflight.
"It's
amazing to see how dedicated everyone is," said Lisa Nowak, a mission
specialist for NASA's STS-121
spaceflight, of the teams of workers preparing Discovery for flight. "We
know that they've been working very hard and are giving is the safest shuttle
and tank that they can."
Shuttle
workers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida have attached Discovery
to the external
fuel tank and solid rocket boosters that will launch it into orbit. The
orbiter rolled
into NASA's cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building - where shuttle launch
stacks are assembled - on May 12 and is due to roll out to the Pad 39B at 2:00
a.m. EDT (0600 GMT) on May 19.
Meanwhile,
Nowak and her STS-121 crewmates continue to prepare for a planned
July 1 launch toward the
International Space Station (ISS) on NASA's second test flight since the 2003 Columbia accident. The
astronauts spent last week conducting spacewalk rehearsals and long-duration
flight simulations with mission controllers and a stand-in space station crew,
NASA officials said.
"It does
seem more real, and I can't identify why," Nowak told SPACE.com of the STS-121
launch - which will mark the first spaceflight of her astronaut career - in a
recent interview. "Maybe it's just because really everybody is more confident
that everything is ready to go. You can feel that all around the [Johnson Space
Center] and I'm getting very excited."
Commanded by
veteran astronaut Steven
Lindsey, NASA's STS-121 mission has weathered a series of delays
since the space agency launched
its first post-Columbia accident mission - STS-114 aboard Discovery - in
July 2005. The STS-121 crew also includes pilot Mark Kelly, mission specialists
Michael Fossum, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers, and European astronaut Thomas
Reiter. Reiter will join the International
Space Station astronauts as the outpost's third crewmember.
The STS-121
crew will deliver a cargo module full of supplies to the ISS, as well as stage
at least two spacewalks to test shuttle flight safety and repair improvements
and conduct station maintenance. A third spacewalk, which NASA has pulled
from the mission plan, could be performed pending available shuttle power
resources.
"We're
still training for all three spacewalks," STS-121 spacewalker Piers Sellers,
who will make his second spaceflight during the mission, told SPACE.com.
"I will bet you a small sum of money, because that's all I have, that we will
do all three in fact."
During the
mission's first spacewalk, Sellers and STS-121 mission specialist Michael
Fossum will test the stability of Discovery's orbital boom - a 50-foot
(15-meter) extension that about doubles the length of orbiter's robotic arm -
by perching themselves at its tip. The second excursion is a repair job of the
space station's railcar-like
Mobile Transporter, with the final spacewalk slated to test shuttle
heat shield repair techniques.
"We're
hoping to finish the business of showing that we can repair the shuttle to an
extent, or to the best extent we can, and also fix all the things on station
that have broken while we haven't been flying shuttles," Sellers said.
Engineers
have also made a series of changes to the Discovery's external fuel tank to
reduce the shedding of large pieces of foam insulation from the vessel at
launch. Foam debris was seen
during Discovery's STS-114 mission, and a chunk of foam actually struck the
space shuttle Columbia's left wing leading edge during its 2003 launch, and has
been blamed for the loss of the orbiter and its crew during reentry.
Nowak said
she and her fellow crewmembers have kept tabs on NASA's external tank work,
with some traveling to KSC while the tank was attached
to its solid rocket boosters.
"We get the
news briefings and find out everything as it's going on, but we do more than
that," Nowak said, adding that STS-121 astronauts also visited NASA's Michoud
Assembly Facility to watch workers apply the foam insulation used to
prevent ice from forming on the external tank's exterior when it is fueled with
super-chilled liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
Nowak,
Sellers and their STS-121 crewmates expect to spend about 13 days in orbit,
including a week at the ISS, before returning to Earth during their mission.
Despite the mission's extended delay, the STS-121 crew remains confident in a
July launch.
"Definitely
a bit more real, but you can never tell in this business," Sellers said of the
upcoming launch date. "This time it looks like everything is going to get lined
up for a July launch."
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