Discovery Lands Safely

Discovery landed safely in Florida shortly before noon eastern time this morning, capping a smooth, successful mission to the International Space Station. During the mission, the shuttle crew delivered a large piece of the Japanese Kibo laboratory, the largest, most sophisticated laboratory ever placed in orbit. In addition—and much to the relief of the space station crew—Discovery delivered a new pump for the Russian toilet which had failed shortly before the shuttle's launch.

The next shuttle launch will not be until October, and it will be the only remaining shuttle mission not going to the International Space Station. That mission will be used for repairs and upgrades to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Discovery On Its Way

Space shuttle Discovery successfully launched on-time yesterday on its way to the International Space Station. The astronauts are already ahead of schedule and are proceeding with a scan of the orbiter's heat-shield, even though they do not have the laser-tipped probe that they have been using on the last several missions (their cargo was too much this time and they had to leave some things out).

Discovery is scheduled to dock with the ISS tomorrow at 1:52pm EDT. Once docked with the station, they will perform a more detailed analysis of the heat shield using a boom arm stored on the space station.

Discovery on Schedule for Launch Tomorrow

According to NASA, all systems are go for tomorrow's launch of space shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. Discovery will be transporting additional pieces of the Japanese Kibo laboratory module—including the large Japanese Pressurized Module and a robotic arm—as well as a new toilet pump to replace on that has failed (talk about trouble getting a plumber out to your house!). Additionally, Discovery will deliver Greg Chamitoff and return Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who has spent the past three months on the space station.

This mission will be the largest payload ever transported to the ISS and includes three spacewalks to install equipment.

With launch scheduled for 5:02pm EDT, NASA expects an 80 percent chance of favorable weather at launch time. And since this launch will be happening at a time when I'll be awake, I expect to watch the streaming webcast of it.

Discovery Beats the Odds

Despite predictions of bad weather threatening the launch, the space shuttle Discovery made NASA's first night launch in four years tonight, rocketing off the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This launch is one of fourteen remaining launches for the space shuttle fleet, thirteen of which will focus on completing assembly of the International Space Station. The remaining flight, in 2008, will be the final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope.

In addition to supplies and a new piece of the space station, Discovery is delivering a new crew member to ISS, American Suni Williams, and returning German astronaut Thomas Reiter.

No Joy for Discovery

Last night's launch of the Discovery space shuttle was scrubbed due to poor weather, as expected. Since NASA has no expectation for better results today, the next attempt will be Saturday at 8:47 PM EST.

Discovery Launch Unlikely Tonight

NASA's first night-time shuttle launch in four years appears to be in jeopardy due to weather concerns. There is only a 40% chance of decent weather at the launch site this evening. Tomorrow night, the forecast is even worse, with only a 30% chance of acceptable weather, and then the forecast goes back to 40% for Saturday night.

Additionally, the weather forecasts for the emergency landing sites in Spain and France are pretty poor. Even if the weather is pristine in Florida, NASA won't launch the shuttle unless there is clear weather at at least one of the emergency landing sites.

My guess would be Saturday for Discovery's launch, but that's just a guess.

The purpose of this launch is to ferry supplies to the International Space Station, add another truss segment, and re-wire some of the station's power grid.