While the seven
astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Discovery head back toward Earth, the agency
is already looking ahead to the planned December launch of its next flight to
the International Space Station (ISS).
Discovery's
sister ship Atlantis stands poised for flight inside NASA's cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Fla., two days after leaving its protective hangar. The shuttle is slated to launch as early
as Dec. 6 pending the completion of Discovery's current
mission.
"It is
successfully mated with its fuel tank and solid rocket boosters," NASA KSC
spokesperson Allard Beutel told SPACE.com of Atlantis.
Led by veteran
NASA spaceflyer Stephen Frick, a commander in the U.S. Navy, Atlantis's seven-man
crew will deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus
laboratory and a new ISS astronaut to join the station's Expedition 16
mission. The shuttle rolled out of its processing hangar early Saturday and is
now undergoing a series of integration tests to ensure it is connected properly
to its 15-story external fuel tank.
NASA space
shuttle program manager Wayne Hale told reporters today that Atlantis's heat
shield has been cleared for spaceflight after close inspection of the
protective reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels lining its wing leading edges.
Similar heat-resistant panels, which experience the hottest temperatures during
reentry, on Discovery showed indications of exterior coating blemishes, though
the orbiter was ultimately found safe to fly.
"We have no
concerns with our RCC panels on Atlantis at this time," Hale said.
If all goes
well, the Columbus laboratory will roll out to NASA's Pad 39A launch site on
Wednesday, with Atlantis set to follow early Nov. 10.
Commanded
by veteran shuttle flyer Pamela Melroy, the STS-120 crew successfully delivered
a Harmony connecting node to the ISS, moved a massive solar power truss to the
station's port-most edge, and then unfurled its pair of wing-like solar arrays.
The astronauts also stitched
up a ripped solar panel during the last of four spacewalks outside the ISS.
Harmony
will serve as the docking port for Europe's Columbus module and the
three-segment Kibo laboratory built by Japan.
Busy
month ahead
But first,
NASA must land its shuttle Discovery and prepare the ISS for Atlantis's
December arrival. Discovery undocked
from the ISS early Monday and is slated to land Wednesday just after 1:00
p.m. EST (1800 GMT).
The shuttle's
return then sets the stage for a Friday spacewalk by ISS Expedition 16
commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko.
Whitson,
Malenchenko and flight engineer Daniel Tani plan to stage a trio of spacewalks,
move a shuttle docking port to the end of the newly installed Harmony node,
then move Harmony and its new berthing port to the front of the station's U.S.
Destiny laboratory before month's end. Each of those tasks must go smoothly if
Atlantis is to launch within its slim, week-long window.
"From a
processing point of view, we're on track to do that," Beutel said of launching
Atlantis. "It all really depends on what they'll be able to do in space."
NASA is broadcasting
Discovery's STS-120 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for mission updates
and NASA TV from SPACE.com.
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