William Atkins
Monday, 24 August 2009 19:50
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 3
With the space shuttle Discovery packed full of a treadmill named COLBERT and a canister called Leonardo, the NASA STS-128 mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to lift off very early Tuesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center; that is, if the weather holds.
The thirteen-day mission to the ISS involves supplying the space station with about eight tons of food, science equipment, spare parts, and even a treadmill named after “The Colbert Report” host Stephen Colbert.
The space shuttle
Discovery will be fueled Monday afternoon, August 24, 2009 (Florida time), for the 1:36 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 5:36 UTC, launch.
However, the weather report for the eastern Florida coast, for Sunday, August 23, called for a 40% chance of stormy weather, which could delay the fueling operations and, thus, the launch.
The space shuttle cannot be fueled during weather that includes lightning, which is part of the weather forecast for the area.
The Monday, August 24, weather report calls for an 80% chance of favorable weather for the launch on Tuesday.
When they do launch, the primary goals of the STS-128 mission is to unload over 15,000 pounds (weight on Earth) of supplies, including 400 pounds of food and other such materials from the Leonardo canister.
Page two continues.
