NASA Prepares Shuttle Discovery for April Launch

NASA's amplitude shuttle

Discovery confused a footfall afterpiece to a planned April 5 barrage Monday, a day after

its sister address Endeavour alternate to Earth from its own amplitude mission.

Discovery confused from

its aliment aerodrome to the alveolate Vehicle Assembly Architecture at NASA's

Kennedy Amplitude Center in Florida, area the 100-ton spaceship is actuality hoisted

into vertical position and absorbed to its ammunition catchbasin and accompanying solid rocket

boosters.

NASA is preparing

Discovery to barrage the STS-131 mission to the International Amplitude Base to

deliver new science accessories and additional parts. Liftoff is set for 6:27 a.m. EDT

(1027 GMT) on April 5.

"Processing has been

going actual able-bodied for Discovery," NASA agent Allard Beutel told SPACE.com

from the spaceport.

The shuttle fabricated the

short cruise to the Vehicle Assembly Architecture Monday morning, about 12 hours

after the Endeavour orbiter's Sunday night landing at the Kennedy Amplitude Center

to end its own STS-130 mission. Endeavour's two-week flight delivered a new

room to the base as able-bodied as a astounding anchor arch that gives astronauts

panoramic views

of Earth from space.

"Welcome

home, STS-130!" said Discovery astronaut Naoko Yamazaki of Japan via Twitter

after Endeavour

landed. "Now STS-131 Discovery is boot appear the launch."

Yamazaki

and six NASA astronauts will bang off aboard Discovery to fly a 13-day mission

to the International Amplitude Station.

The

mission is allowable by adept spaceflyer Alan Poindexter. Three spacewalks

are planned.

NASA

originally hoped to barrage Discovery on March 18. But an almighty continued cold

snap in Florida prevented the shuttle's move to the Vehicle Assembly Building

because of low temperatures. The bureau planned to move Discovery out of its

hangar today, but autonomous to cycle the shuttle over on Monday because better

weather was expected, Beutel said.

The

cold acclimate affected NASA to adjournment the shuttle's barrage until April 5 in order

to abstain a amplitude cartage battle with a aggregation change on the amplitude base in

late March and aboriginal April.

Discovery's

STS-131 mission is the additional of NASA's bristles final shuttle missions this year

before the three-orbiter agile is retired in the fall. After that, astronauts

will accept to ride on Russia's Soyuz cartage to ability the about complete space

station.

NASA's

Constellation plan originally in allegation of architecture new rockets and spaceships

to alter the shuttle agile was annulled beforehand this ages by President Barack

Obama. The bureau is cyberbanking on the development of new bartering aircraft to

launch American astronauts into space.

Discovery

is due to cycle out to its bank barrage pad at 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT) on

Tuesday, March 2.

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