NASA: Weather Looks Good For Thursday Shuttle Launch
CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) – A NASA launch team is busy preparing for the last flight of the shuttle Discovery which is set to blast off on Thursday. Discovery's astronauts are back at Kennedy Space Center , the weather looks good, now all NASA needs this week is a smooth countdown all the way to zero.
NASA's countdown clocks will start ticking Monday afternoon. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:50 p.m. Thursday. Discovery will haul a load of new tools and spare supplies to the International Space Station.
Discovery should have taken off on its final voyage in November. But fuel tank cracks kept the shuttle grounded for four months. The shuttle had to be returned to its hangar for the unprecedented repair work.
After returning from the International Space Station, Discovery will be retired and sent to a museum. Its final destination is expected to be the Smithsonian Institution.
Only three shuttle missions remain. These remaining missions will focus on outfitting the International Space Station with spare parts to last it well beyond the shuttle era. After the shuttles are grounded, Russian Soyuz spacecraft and international unmanned cargo vessels will deliver crew and supplies to the orbiting outpost.
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