CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Shuttle Discovery will blast off amid a swirling cloud of uncertainty Thursday, rocketing to the International Space Station as project officials cut soaring outpost costs and ponder the possibility of flying paying customers to the complex.
A mere week after the White House forced NASA to reduce the ultimate size of the station and thus the amount of research that can be done aboard it, Discovery is scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center at 6:42 a.m. EST (11:42 GMT) that day.
Strapped into the ship: A new station crew that might end up hosting the worlds first space tourist - a wealthy U.S. financier who aims to make a round trip to the outpost on a Russian space taxi flight in late April.
Yet despite serious money-saving changes to outpost architecture and an ongoing controversy about civilian visitors, NASA officials insist the final product still will be the most advanced scientific way station ever erected in Earth orbit.
"I think the real story is that a magnificent spaceship is taking form on orbit that people are living in 365 days a year, and it will grow into an absolutely incredible research facility," NASA space station project manager Tommy Holloway said Tuesday.
"When all is said and done, when you see the International Space Station, I would anticipate that you wouldnt be able to tell the difference [despite impending changes]. We will still build and assemble the International Space Station that you are familiar with."
Coming on the heels of the delivery of the $1.4 billion U.S. Destiny laboratory to the station, NASAs 103rd shuttle mission will involve ferrying a fresh crew up to the international outpost.
Incoming Russian commander Yuri Usachev and two U.S. colleagues -- astronauts Susan Helms and Jim Voss will be setting out on a four-month station tour while the outposts first full-time tenants hitch a ride back to Earth aboard Discovery on March 20.
The prime job for the new crew: Activating the stations first science research facility and preparing the outpost for the upcoming delivery of a Canadian construction crane and an airlock for staging spacewalk assembly and maintenance work outside the outpost.
Forecasters say the weather is expected to be acceptable for launch, but mission managers will be keeping close tabs on cold temperatures.
There is some concern that ice could build up on Discoverys 15-story external liquid-fuel tank and then break off during launch. Ice falling off the tank could damage fragile thermal tiles that are designed to protect Discovery and its crew from the intense heat the shuttle is exposed to during atmospheric reentry.
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