WASHINGTON
- Seven astronauts are gearing up to launch toward the International Space Station next month to deliver a final piece
of the outpost's power grid, the last major American-built addition to the
orbiting laboratory.
The spaceflyers are slated
to lift off aboard the space shuttle Discovery on Feb. 12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral,
Fla., to deliver the last starboard piece of the space station's metallic
backbone-like truss and unfurl a pair of expansive U.S. solar wings from its
tip.
The new
addition is the fourth set of U.S. solar arrays to feed the station's
electrical grid and will give the orbital laboratory a wingspan that will rival
an American football field in length once attached. The starboard-side wings
will also make the station an even brighter target for skywatchers on Earth
hoping to glimpse the outpost's path across the night sky.
"It's the
start, for us, to a very exciting year," NASA shuttle program manager John
Shannon told reporters on Friday.
Commanded
by veteran spaceflyer Lee Archambault, Discovery's STS-119 mission is NASA's
first of up to six planned shuttle flights for 2009. They include one final
flight to overhaul
the Hubble Space Telescope and a series of space station construction
missions.
"We're of
course very proud to be on this mission." said Archambault, who added that he
helped give the space station a symmetrical look during his first spaceflight
in 2007, which also delivered new solar wings. "Since then NASA has unbalanced
it, so we're getting a chance to balance it again."
Four
spacewalks are planned to install the 32,000-pound (14,514-kg) starboard-side
solar arrays and upgrade the station's exterior during Discovery's flight.
Three
spaceflight rookies and four veterans make up Archambault's crew. The crew
includes teachers-turned-astronauts Joseph Acaba and Richard Arnold II, as well
veteran astronaut Koichi Wakata, a two-time spaceflyer for the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency who will become Japan's first long-duration astronaut when
he joins the space station's Expedition 18 crew during Discovery's two-week
mission.
Wakata
helped install the first section of the space station's 11-segment main truss
back in 2000 during his last spaceflight. Now he'll help attach its final
piece, then stay aboard to take charge of the outpost's Japanese Kibo
laboratory.
Discovery
may also carry a spare part of the space station's new water recycling system,
an intricate - and
sometimes icky - assembly that filters astronaut wastewater, sweat and
urine back into drinking water.
Astronauts
installed the recycling system aboard the station last November despite
glitches with a balky
urine distillation component. That component failed again just before
Christmas. Engineers and astronauts are trying to revive the device, but would
need the spare from Earth if they fail, said NASA's space station program manager Mike Suffredini.
The urine
recycler is part of a $250 million life support system that must work if the
space station is to sustain larger, six-person crews for the long-term.
Suffredini
said he is confident that engineers will overcome the urine recycler's glitches
and have a spare ready in time if required. Even if the unit is not operational
by May, the space station can still support the jump to six-person crews with
the help water shipments aboard NASA shuttles this year, he added.
2009 is
expected to bring the space station to the brink of completion. In addition to
Discovery's February flight and the planned Hubble Space Telescope flight in
mid-May, NASA space shuttles are expected to deliver the final segment of
Japan's Kibo laboratory this summer, a vital batch of spare parts and supplies
and a new connecting node and viewport.
"Last year
was a banner year for the station and a huge success," Suffredini said. "This
year will be no less exciting."
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