CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - The successful Tuesday launch of NASA's shuttle Discovery has
opened the gate for a busy few months of construction at the International
Space Station (ISS).
Discovery
and its seven-astronaut crew launched
into space at 11:38 a.m. EDT (1538 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center
here to deliver the Harmony connecting node that will anchor future
laboratories to the ISS.
"This is a
great start to a very challenging mission in front of us," said NASA's space
operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier said after liftoff. "I can't think of a
better start to this mission than what we got today."
The shuttle's
STS-120 crew, commanded by veteran spaceflyer Pamela Melroy, will install
Harmony, ferry a new station crewmember to the ISS and move a massive solar
power segment during a complicated 14-day
spaceflight.
Once the mission
is complete, the space station's Expedition 16 crew will begin a three-week work
marathon to outfit Harmony with a shuttle docking port and move the module to
the front of the ISS so NASA's shuttle Atlantis can dock in December to deliver
Europe's Columbus laboratory. No less than 10 spacewalks by shuttle and ISS
astronauts are planned before the end of the year.
"Am I worried?
No, we'll do fine," said Gerstenmaier, adding that there is more a sense of
anticipation, rather than relief, that a new stage of ISS construction is under
way. "Is it exciting? Yes, [and] that's okay."
NASA launch
director Mike Leinbach told reporters that Discovery's liftoff marked the first
time since the agency resumed
shuttle flights in 2005 that it launched an orbiter on time for the third
time in a row. The shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour, which launched in June and
August, respectively, also lifted off on their first attempts.
"It's been
quite some time," said Leinbach, adding that he hopes Atlantis's planned Dec. 6
launch will continue the streak.
Heat
shield inspection on tap
Gerstenmaier
said the agency is now turning its attention to imagery and video taken of
Discovery during liftoff to determine the health of the spacecraft's
heat shield.
A
preliminary review found six separate instances of foam debris popping free
from Discovery's fuel tank during flight, but none of them occurred early
enough to cause significant damage to the orbiter, Gerstenmaier said.
Aboard
Discovery, STS-120 mission specialist Scott Parazynski reported what he deemed "no
visible loss of big pieces of foam" after photographing the shuttle's discarded
fuel tank as it floated away.
"It's
preliminary only, but it looks like a clean ascent," astronaut Terry Virts told
Discovery's STS-120 crew from NASA's Mission Control in Houston, Texas.
"That's
great news," Melroy replied.
Much of a
small patch of ice on a liquid hydrogen pipe running between the aft end of
Discovery and its external tank before launch appeared to shake off during
liftoff as expected, mission managers said. The ice was attached to a baggy
material, allowing the ice to fall off on the launch pad where it posed no risk
to the shuttle, Leinbach added.
A detailed
inspection of Discovery's wing-mounted reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels,
which experience the most extreme temperatures during landing, will be
conducted by the STS-120 astronauts on Wednesday. The astronauts will scan each
wing a bit slower than usual with a sensor-tipped extension of Discovery's
robotic arm to look for any hints of defects in the exterior coating of their
heat-resistant panels.
Before
launch, shuttle engineers were split on whether to replace three of Discovery's
44 RCC panels after a new inspection technique showed indications
of possible coating defects. After a lengthy discussion last week, top mission
managers found Discovery safe for launch.
Gerstenmaier
stressed after today's successful launch that the decision to fly was not a
rush to judgment.
"We're not
in any shape or form playing fast and loose," Gerstenmaier said. "We're going
above and beyond to make sure we are safe to go fly."
NASA is
broadcasting Discovery's STS-120 launch and mission operations live on NASA. Click here for mission updates
and NASA TV from SPACE.com.
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