The seven-member crew for STS-120 is commander (retired Air Force colonel) Pamela Melroy, pilot (Marine Corps colonel) George D. Zamka, and mission specialists Scott E. Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, (Army colonel) Douglas H. Wheelock, Paolo A. Nespoli, a European Space Agency/Italian astronaut, and Daniel M. Tani, who will be the Expedition 16 flight engineer on the space station. Nespoli, Wheelock, and Zamka are flying their first missions into space.

On Friday, October 19, 2007, the crew flew from the NASA Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas, where the bulk of their training is performed, to the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where the launch site is located.

Tani will stay onboard the space station, and replace ISS Expedition 15 flight engineer Clayton Anderson, who will be returning to Earth when Discovery leaves the space station. The STS-120 mission is now scheduled for a landing at 5:47 EDT (9:47 GMT) on November 6, 2007, at the Kennedy Space Center.

The problem found on space shuttle Discovery was with decay of the silicon carbide coating on three of the forty-four carbon composite panels that cover the leading edges of the shuttle’s wings. The concern was that decay found on these three panels might not adequately protect the ship and crew when it descends back into the Earth’s atmosphere after its assembly mission to the International Space Station. Temperatures at the leading edges of the wings reach 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit (1760 degree Celsius) during the height of atmospheric drag on the shuttle.

Melroy commented about the decay on the heat-shielding panels: "The issues were discussed in tremendous detail. I feel confident everyone's voice was heard. We were allowed to review the data ourselves and have all of our technical questions answered. As a result of that, I'm proud to say the crew is totally confident the (panels) on Discovery are ready to protect us on our ride home."

Discovery has gone into space three times without further degradation to these three panels. However, the NASA Engineering and Safety Center recommended that these panels be replaced before another mission into space. NASA mission managers said such a repair would take two months, and overrode the decision.

The two-week mission will involve five extravehicular activities (EVAs), or spacewalks, to connect Node 2 (Harmony), a new habitable module built by the Italian company Alcatel Alenia Space, to the space station and to relocate the P6 solar power module from the Z1 truss on top of Unity, to the port end of the truss. The installation of Harmony will allow the later installation of the European Columbus and Japanese Kibo research modules onto two of its ports.

The liftoff will be shown on NASA TV. Mission coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. October 23.


{moscomment}

---

Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now
When you subscribe get a 12 months license for LiveProject
Valued at $99 USD


Download the FREE iTWire desktop alert widget