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WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US expanse shuttle Discovery was forthcoming the International Space Station on Sat as conception of its test mission, carrying a newborn module and a mechanism to the orbiting investigate lab.

The shuttle, which blasted soured from the President Space Center on Thursday, is set to cut with the ISS at 2:15 pm (1915 GMT). Discovery's 11-day tour of duty in low Earth itinerary is to allow digit spacewalks.

Late Friday, NASA said the astronauts had inspected the orbiter's energy protection grouping and had checked out spacesuits and appointment tools in preparation for Saturday's docking.

The Discovery gathering plans to deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module, with extra storage expanse and an Atlantic for experiments, as substantially as some spare parts and the Express Logistic Carrier, an outside papers for super equipment.

The shuttle module also alter the prototypal humanoid mechanism to the ISS. The Robonaut 2, or R2, is a render project of General Motors and NASA and module meet behindhand as a permanent doc of the expanse send when the shuttle leaves.

When Discovery wraps up this tour, the oldest extant shuttle module hit flown more missions than some of its cohorts and toted 180 people into space, including the prototypal someone shuttle man and the prototypal African-American spacewalker.

The another digit shuttles are regular for their test flights after this year: Endeavour

on April 19 and Atlantis on June 28.

Since Discovery prototypal launched in 1984, it has transported the Hubble Space telescope, was the prototypal to appointment with the Russian Mir Space Station, and delivered conception of the Asian Kibo work to the ISS.

Discovery has circled the globe more than 5,600 times and logged 142 meg miles (230 meg kilometers) over its 352 life in space.

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