Orbiter Moved To VAB For Booster, Tank Mate

NASA is on track for its first space shuttle mission of the New Year. At Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery completed its journey from Orbiter Processing Facility-3 to the Vehicle Assembly Building at 3:30 pm EST Wednesday. An earlier rollover was delayed to allow technicians to replace a tire with low pressure and wait out a midday rainstorm.

The shuttle was fitted with a hoisting device and lifted vertically by a heavy-duty crane late Wednesday night. It was joined Thursday afternoon with the solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank already inside the building's high bay.

NASA's crawler-transporter will be rolled under the shuttle stack for the trip to Kennedy's Launch Pad 39A, scheduled for 4 am January 14 -- the next major milestone of the STS-119 mission to the International Space Station.

The payload, consisting of the S6 truss segment and the final set of US solar arrays, will be transported to the pad January 11, just prior to the shuttle's arrival.

Commander Lee Archambault will lead a crew of seven, along with Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.

The astronauts are expected to be at Kennedy for a full-dress rehearsal, called the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, January 19-21. They will have the opportunity to check out the spacecraft and payload, try on their custom-made flight suits and review safety procedures.

Discovery's STS-119 mission to the International Space Station is targeted for lift off 7:32 am EST, February 12.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/shuttle