CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The weather looks good for NASA's planned
Saturday launch of the shuttle Discovery to deliver a massive new laboratory to
the International Space Station.
"Everything is coming together for launch and that includes the
weather," said shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters during a morning briefing
here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. "There's an 80 percent chance of good
weather on Saturday."
Discovery is set to lift off from a seaside launch pad tomorrow at 5:02
p.m. EDT (2102 GMT) to haul the $1 billion Japanese
Kibo laboratory toward the space station. The shuttle's seven crewmembers,
led by commander Mark Kelly, are scheduled to perform three spacewalks to
install the new room during their planned
14-day mission.
If Discovery does not launch
tomorrow, the weather begins to deteriorate, with an increased chance of thunderstorms
delaying the launch.
"If we do happen to delay 24 hours we start to get a little more
concerned," Winters said. "There's a 30 percent chance of KSC weather
prohibiting launch."
If the shuttle's liftoff is delayed by 48 hours, the chances of bad
weather disrupting the launch rise to 60 percent.
Plans for launch appear to be progressing smoothly, with no last-minute
issues hindering preparations. Shuttle workers have packed away a last-minute
addition, a spare toilet pump for the space station's bathroom, so astronauts
aboard the outpost can repair the space toilet in orbit. The station's toilet
went on the fritz last week and astronauts need the new pump to restore it to
full service.
"I'm really happy to report that all of our systems are in great shape,
we're tracking no issues and we're right on track," NASA test director Jeff
Spaulding said today.
The rotating service structure, the giant metal shroud surrounding the
space shuttle on its launch pad, is set to be retracted tonight at 8:30 p.m.
EDT (2430 GMT). Discovery's communications system will be checked out today, with
ground crews set to perform final configurations on the shuttle and stow the
last of the crew equipment later today.
Discovery
astronauts are in for a somewhat quiet day today as they attend final
briefings and take some time off to rest and visit with their families before
their adventure planned for tomorrow. Engineers are expected to begin fueling
Discovery's 15-story external tank for launch at about 7:37 a.m. EDT (1137
GMT) tomorrow.
Discovery's Saturday launch will mark NASA's third shuttle flight this
year aimed at delivering a new orbital room to the space station. Astronauts
installed Europe's Columbus lab at the station in February, with another
mission in March to deliver a small storage room for Japan's tour bus-sized
Kibo. NASA plans to launch up to five shuttle missions this year, including a flight to
overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope and cargo flight to the space station.
NASA will broadcast the planned launch of Discovery's
STS-124 mission live on NASA TV, beginning at 12:00 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) on
Saturday. Click here for
SPACE.com's shuttle mission updates and NASA TV feed.
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