Top Science News

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US expanse program's oldest and most traveled shuttle, Discovery, was on road to attain its test Earth construction weekday after a near-perfect terminal assignment at the International Space Station.

The old shuttle has flown more than any added in the fast during its 27-year career, and module become the prototypal of three to fling as the United States winds downbound its storied expanse shuttle information this year.

The defy at Florida's President Space Center was temperate and looked promising for a construction at 11:57 am (1657 GMT) Wednesday, NASA said.

If that window does not work, there module be added possibleness at 1:34 pm (1834 GMT).

Astronauts completed an inspection of the shuttle's modify shield weekday and institute no problems, said lead of NASA's assignment direction aggroup Leroy Cain, who heaped approval on the spacecraft's power after 39 missions.

"The whole expanse shuttle grouping meet performed unpaid on this whole mission," he told reporters.

"We hit had an awesome display here of the capabilities of the aggroup and the hardware."

Discovery's assignment was initially regular to terminal 11 life but was long to 13 so that astronauts could impact on repairs and establish a constituent shack at the orbiting lab.

The Italian-built Permanent Multipurpose Module, erst famous as Leonardo, is today on the side of the work and adds 21 by 15 feet (6.5 by 4.5 meters) of extra shack for hardware and experiments.

Astronauts also brought the prototypal mechanism robot to the expanse station, though it spent most of its instance enwrapped in packing materials and module not become full operational for whatever time.

During the mission, President Barack Obama titled the sextet Discovery astronauts and their sextet crewmates who were already aboard the ISS to feature he was chesty of their cooperation in space.

"I desired to call and feature how personally chesty I am of you and all that you are accomplishing. We are ever inspired by the images of you guys at work," Obama said.

Another morning, the gathering woke up to a personalized communication from person William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the popular Star Trek series.

"Space, the test frontier. These hit been the voyages of the expanse shuttle Discovery," said Shatner in a specially recorded introduction to the "Theme from Star Trek," played on the crew's test farewell in space.

But not every instance was quite so glamorous.

A robotic limb perturbation during the prototypal of digit spacewalks left US astronaut Steve Bowen stranded outside the ISS clutching a busted liquid viscus for about 30 minutes, but no alteration was finished and the gathering laughed as they described the status to reporters later.

When the shuttle lands, it module hit spent a total of 365 life in expanse over the instruction of its career, logging about 150 meg miles (241 meg kilometers).

"We hit digit field mark remaining and that is to get the gathering of Discovery, and Discovery, backwards safely," said Cain.

Hours after Discovery touches down, NASA plans to roll discover the shuttle Endeavour to start aggrandize 39A in activity for its test journey to the orbiting expanse work on April 19.

Endeavour is to be commanded by astronaut Mark Kelly, whose leader wife Gabrielle Giffords is sick from a missile to the head, after a gunman went on a deadly rampage at a political gathering she was retentive at a grocery store.

Kelly has said his wife is undergoing a grueling schedule of rehabilitation exercises and he hopes she module be well enough to attend the start next month at President Space Center.

The shuttle Atlantis is regular for its test grace on June 28, which would mark the terminal shuttle assignment ever.

After that, the mend method of transport to and from the ISS module be via Russia's Soyuz expanse capsules, which crapper carry three people at a time.

Discovery has busted new ground multiple nowadays since it prototypal launched in 1984.

It transported the astrophysicist Space telescope, was the prototypal shuttle to be commanded by a someone astronaut and the prototypal to rendez-vous with the Slavonic Mir Space Station.

The shuttle was also the prototypal to convey to expanse after digit field disasters, the Challenger explosion in 1986 and the river hardship in 2003 when the shuttle broke up on its convey toward Earth.

Source