William Atkins
Wednesday, 30 April 2008 04:53
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
NASA will be moving the space shuttle Discovery to Launch Pad 39A on Saturday, May 3, 2008, in preparation for carrying the crewmembers of the STS-124 mission to the International Space Station for another assembly mission.
At approximately, 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) the space shuttle Discovery will begin its first move from its position inside the Vehicle Assembly Building to its position on the launch pad, both within NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The space shuttle, along with its single external tank and twin solid rocket boosters, were mated inside the VAB on top of the mobile launcher platform. The entire assembly will be sent on a turtle-slow journey to the launch pad via the crawler transporter.
The trip from the VAB to the launch pad will take approximately six hours as it traverses about 3.4 miles (kilometers) in just under a speed of one mile per hour.
The journey will be shown live on NASA TV beginning at 6:30 a.m.
For NASA TV coverage, please go to:
NASA Television
Additional information on the STS-124 mission and crew is found at:
NASA STS-124 mission.
Additional information on the STS-124 NASA mission follows.
