NASA to Set Official Shuttle Discovery Launch Date
February 3, 2009
Sunrise Roll. Silhouetted against the dawn's early light, Discovery is being moved by the massive crawler-transporter beneath to Kennedy's Launch Pad 39A. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA managers are engaged in the executive-level Flight Readiness Review, or FRR, to evaluate Discovery’s readiness for launch.
An announcement will be made at the conclusion of the meeting and broadcast no earlier than 6 p.m. EST on NASA TV to set the mission's official launch date.
At Kennedy's Launch Pad 39A, technicians conducted leak checks on space shuttle Discovery's gaseous hydrogen, or GH2, flow control valves and performed space shuttle main engine flow through tests.
Installation of the ordnance that will separate the shuttle from the mobile launcher platform at the time of liftoff is on hold while an exposed wire located in the forward compartment of the spacecraft is repaired.
Meanwhile, the STS-119 crew members are in launch-countdown mode, which includes shifting sleep patterns and frequent medical exams. Later in the week, the astronauts will be preflight quarantined in Johnson Space Center's Astronaut Quarantine Facility in Houston to keep them isolated from potential infections.
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