Final Trip To The Launch Pad Will Get Underway January 21

What will likely be Discovery's final move from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Pad 39A Monday is set for Jan. 31 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Six astronauts are set to launch aboard the shuttle on Feb. 24. The STS-133 mission to the International Space Station is the final scheduled flight for Discovery before it is retired.

Discovery's first motion out of the VAB to the pad is scheduled for 2000 EST. The shuttle's 3.4-mile journey atop a giant crawler-transporter is expected to take approximately six hours.

The 11-day mission will be the 35th flight to the station and the 39th flight for Discovery. The mission will deliver and install the Permanent Multipurpose Module; critical spare components for the space station; and the Express Logistics Carrier 4 -- an external platform that holds large equipment. Discovery also will deliver Robonaut 2, or R2, to become a permanent resident of the station as the first human-like robot in space.

Discovery's first launch attempt on Nov. 5, 2010, was scrubbed because of a gaseous hydrogen leak at the external fuel tank's ground umbilical carrier plate. The spacecraft was rolled off of the launch pad and back into the VAB on Dec. 21, 2010, to allow technicians to perform X-ray type scans and repairs to Discovery's external tank.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/shuttle