The seven
astronauts set to launch into orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery this
week arrived at NASA's Florida spaceport Sunday after weeks of delay.
Led by
shuttle commander Lee Archambault, the astronauts landed their T-38 jets on a
runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., where they plan
to launch
toward the International Space Station Wednesday night at 9:20 p.m. EDT
(0120 March 12 GMT).
"We're
ready to get going," Archambault said from the runway after his crew's
afternoon arrival, which was broadcast live on NASA TV.
Archambault
and his crew are poised to launch on a two-week
construction mission to deliver the final segment of the space station's
backbone-like main truss and install the outpost's last pair of U.S.-built
solar arrays. Four spacewalks are planned for the mission.
Initially
slated to launch on Feb. 12, Discovery's STS-119 mission has been delayed
several times due to concerns with the spacecraft's three vital fuel
control valves, which keep part of its attached external tank properly pressurized
during liftoff.
NASA
engineers replaced the valves twice and spent weeks analyzing them after a
similar valve on the shuttle Endeavour cracked during its November 2008 launch.
Endeavour reached orbit without incident, but NASA wanted to be sure the valves
aboard Discovery were safe to fly.
Top mission
managers announced Friday that Discovery was fit for its planned 14-day space
station flight, the first of several construction missions scheduled for 2009.
NASA's final shuttle flight to overhaul
the Hubble Space Telescope is also due to launch this May.
In addition
to the new space station segment and solar wings, Discovery's crew will also set to
ferry Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata to the orbiting laboratory. Wakata, a
veteran spaceflyer for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will replace
NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus as a member of the space station's current
three-person Expedition 18 crew.
Magnus has
lived aboard the space station since last November and is due to return aboard
Discovery. Wakata is Japan's first long-duration astronaut and will stay aboard
the station until his replacement arrives in June.
"I'm
excited to stay onboard the space station for a little while," Wakata said.
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