Discovery's ultimate mission

(TNO) The US Space and Aeronautics Agency (NASA) has recently moved the space shuttle Discovery into the launch pad in preparation for the ship's final mission, before it " retires ", according to Reuters.

The Discovery ship is about to move to the launch pad. (Photo: Reuters )

After traveling over a distance of nearly 5.5 km for more than 6 hours, Discovery ship was placed on the launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center , Florida (USA) at 1:49 am on September 21 (local time). method).

As expected, the ship will take off at 16:40 on 1.10 (local time) to carry out the mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Discovery ship crew on duty to the ISS this time bears the symbol STS-133, including commander Steven Lindsey, pilot Eric Boe and astronauts Alvin Drew, Michael Barratt, Tim Kopra, Nicole Stott (female).

Astronauts will have 11 days of space travel, bringing connectivity to the ISS of new parts, including a versatile fixed module.

It is known that this is Discovery's last mission since it was first launched in space on August 30, 1984 and is one of the last two missions of NASA's shuttle fleet.

Following Discovery's flight, NASA will close its historic shuttle program with the Endeavor's final mission, scheduled to be launched on February 26, 2011.

Previously, NASA's last space shuttle flight was scheduled to be implemented in September to complete the construction of the International Space Station worth $ 100 billion. But then NASA had to postpone until February next year.

This year, NASA also made three shuttle launches including Endeavor's STS-130 mission from August 8-21, installing the last important part for ISS called Tranquility Node 3; STS-131 mission of Discovery ship from 5-20.4 days to replenish goods and maintain the station.

And the last mission of Atlantis is the number of STS-132 from 14-26.5 to the ISS assembly of a Russian-made mini research module called MRM-1 (also known as Rassvet) that functions as The connecting port for Russian spacecraft is the Soyuz and Progress transport.

The International Space Station is nearing completion and currently weighs about 300 tons. (Photo: Reuters )

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