After a two-day delay and a good deal of much-deserved sentiment, the Space Shuttle Discovery – NASA’s oldest active shuttle – is at the launch pad and go for launch for its final mission, with liftoff slated for 3:52 p.m. EST tomorrow. Technicians are spending the day making the final inspections of the external liquid oxygen feedlines, and onboard ground communications will be activated this afternoon. It will be Discovery’s 39th flight in 26 years.
For its final performance, Discovery will ferry a crew of six to the International Space Station, though you could call it a crew of seven if you count Robonaut 2, a humanoid ‘bot that will spend the next decade aboard the ISS helping astronauts aboard the station conduct experiments, keep the station up to spec, and possibly even help perform repairs to the outside of the station during spacewalks.
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