Discovery leaves for space today

The day has finally arrived after a period of more than 2 years when NASA is all set to launch the Space Shuttle Discovery to space. This would be NASA’s first mission to space since the Columbia shuttle disaster, which resulted in death of all the crewmembers on board. The space agency confirmed yesterday that they have wrapped up the last technical issues and pronounced the first shuttle mission “go for launch”.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin said at an afternoon news conference: “We’re not working any significant issues.” Discovery Space Shuttle is scheduled to leave for space at 3:51 p.m. ET today. There are still natural problems which might derail the mission like the weather conditions including the Hurricane Dennis. NASA’s weather watches yesterday downgraded their predictions for launch-friendly weather from 70 percent to 60 percent.

The launch weather officer Kathy Winters said that there are good possibilities of showers likely to sweep over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at midday Wednesday, just hours before space shuttle Discovery’s launch time. If that happens, the shuttle launch might be delayed. The space agency is however hopeful for a good weather day today for the launch.

The Space Shuttle mission is crucial to send supplies for the continuing work done on the International Space Station. It is also carrying the necessary supplies for the crew currently onboard on the ISS. The mission is also important to check the security updates NASA has done on the shuttle to make it safer for the crew and the shuttle itself to prevent any thing similar to what happened to Shuttle Columbia.