HOUSTON – NASA's shuttle Discovery is on
track for an October launch to the International Space Station (ISS), where its
astronaut crew will lay the foundation for future orbital laboratories, mission
managers said Friday.
Discovery's
seven-astronaut crew is set to launch Oct. 23 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and deliver a vital hub-like connecting node to the orbiting space
station.
Plans for
the two-week mission will also include new management meetings to bolster more
open communication among NASA engineers, as well as the likely addition of an extra,
fifth spacewalk to test a pink goo-like substance for use in shuttle heat
shield repairs, said NASA shuttle program manager Wayne Hale.
"The time
has come to do an in-flight demonstration to see how it really works," Hale
told reporters of the repair method during a mission briefing here at the Johnson Space Center.
Mission managers are expected to give final
approval of the spacewalk addition, which calls for an astronaut to use a caulk
gun-like tool to squirt the heat-resistant goo into intentionally damaged
shuttle tile samples, on Monday. The repair method was one of several
considered to fill
in a small ding in the shuttle Endeavour's tile-covered belly last month
before engineers found that no repairs would be required.
A piece of
fuel tank debris dinged Endeavour during its Aug. 8 launch to the ISS. NASA
engineers believe they've tracked the issue to cracked insulation layers on shuttle
fuel tank brackets and completed repairs of similar damage to Discovery's fuel
tank last week.
Led by
veteran shuttle flyer Pamela Melroy -- NASA's second
female shuttle commander -- Discovery's STS-120 mission will deliver the Harmony
connecting module to the ISS, where the cylindrical module will serve as the
connecting point for European and Japanese laboratories. The crew will also
move the station's mast-like Port 6 solar array tower and perch it at its
permanent home on the port-most edge of the orbital laboratory's metallic truss
backbone.
"We are
truly entering a new phase of the ISS assembly sequence, and we are very
excited with what lies ahead," said Kenny Todd, NASA's space station mission
integration and operations manager.
But before
Discovery's crew launches into space, mission managers have decided to add an
extra preflight meeting to encourage engineers to speak up with any concerns,
said Hale, adding that plans for the new discussions have been under
development for several months.
"We have
instituted a number of ways for people to speak up anonymously," said Hale. "I
would like to say that everybody feels comfortable coming to a board, standing
up in front of the management and presenting their case. But apparently that's
not so."
Earlier
this summer, lawmakers urged NASA to provide better forums
for open communication among its ranks.
Discovery's
STS-120 mission is NASA's third of four planned shuttle flights to continue ISS
construction this year.
Between now
and next spring, NASA hopes to launch the European Space Agency's Columbus
laboratory and components of Japan's three-part
Kibo laboratory to the ISS. The agency plans at least 11 more shuttle
flights to complete space station construction by the planned September 2010 retirement
of its three-orbiter fleet.
Hale said
mission managers are also considering prolonging use of the space shuttle
Atlantis, which is slated to retire from flight service in 2008, help ease the
station's tight construction schedule.
"If we feel
that we need the schedule margin, that vehicle is a perfectly flyable vehicle,"
Hale said of Atlantis. If the shuttle is retired next year as planned, its
components would serve as spare parts for NASA's remaining two orbiters, he
added.
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