Four chips in Discovery's thermal tiles will be the focus of a careful inspection that begins several hours after undocking at 7:42 a.m. today. Read more
The astronauts aboard the orbiting shuttle and station complex shook hands and hugged goodbye Tuesday as the doors swung shut between their spacecraft on the eve of undocking.
Astronauts complete mission's third and final spacewalk Spacewalking astronaut Ron Garan swept high above the international space station this morning, his feet jammed into restraints on the tip of an outstretched robot arm and his hands locked tightly to the handles of a bulky gas tank.
A program to develop a new salmonella vaccine has headed to the outer limits. The space shuttle Discovery is carrying a test strain of salmonella, and officials at Spacehab are using the experiment to highlight plans for an ambitious biotech space program.
The 10 crew members aboard space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station will hold a news conference at 4:02 p.m. CDT, Monday, June 9. NASA Television will provide live coverage of the 40-minute news conference.
The 37-foot Japanese Kibo laboratory moved to its final home on the space station Tuesday, while spacewalkers inspected a damaged solar array joint. Meanwhile, back on Earth, engineers determined that photographs taken of the ship so far in flight show four minor areas of tile damage. However, none was severe enough to require action before the final heat-shield inspection prior to landing.
STS-124 first spacewalk Two astronauts, Mike Fossum and Ron Garan, from the US space shuttle Discovery have begun the first STS-124 mission space walk at the International Space Station. The astronauts left ISS space hatch at 16:22 GMT, to begin a six and a half hour spacewalk to inspect the solar arrays, and begin installing the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agencys Kibo laboratory.
Space Shuttle Discovery made a perfect docking with the International Space Station on Monday, 2:03 p.m. EDT, when it delivered the second component of the Kibo Japanese laboratory and Greg Chamitoff, the new Expedition 17 crew member. Prior to the shuttles socking with the ISS, Discovery performed a R-bar Pitch Manoeuvre (RPM) below the ISS, when the ISS crew took photos of the shuttles heat shield with 400 and 800 mm lens cameras. Discovery Commander Mark Kelly guided the shuttle as it approached the ISS and performed the RPM manoeuvre.
NASA began an investigation Monday into the unprecedented launch pad damage left behind as the shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts lifted off. Discovery, which docked with the international space station as the inquiry began, was apparently unscathed by chunks of fireproof brick and concrete thrown about 1,500 feet from the 40-year-old launch complex.