Launch of space shuttle Discovery has been delayed due to a leak in the ground umbilical carrier plate (GUCP) at Launch Pad 39A, which prompted a scrub of Friday’s launch attempt.

STS-133 mission managers also will look at a crack in the external tank foam that developed as supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen were being drained from the tank, although the crack didn’t develop until after the launch attempt was called off.

Discovery’s six astronauts have left the Kennedy Space Center in their T-38 jets to return home to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Discovery’s next possible launch opportunity comes up on November 30th at 4:05 a.m. EST. This will be the final voyage for the orbiter.

More space shuttle news and information at nasa.gov/

The shuttle weather team is carefully watching a cold front moving through Florida, that could impact the final launch of space shuttle Discovery. There’s about a 50 percent chance the shuttle will lift off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, November 5th.

Friday’s tentative launch time is 3:04 p.m. EDT. The shuttle team meets at 5:00 am Friday morning to make a final assessment of the weather conditions at the cape, before giving a “go” or “no-go” decision to fill Discovery’s external fuel tank.

Photo Credit: NASA TV

If Discovery launches Friday, the shuttle’s schedule will be as follows:

Docking @ International Space Station 10:55 a.m. EST Sunday Nov. 7th
Spacewalk 1 Tuesday Nov. 9th
Spacewalk 2 Thursday Nov. 11th
Undocking @ 4:21 a.m. Sunday Nov. 14th
Earth Landing @ Kennedy Space Center @ 9:16 a.m. Tuesday Nov. 16th

More space shuttle news and information at nasa.gov

A twin Robonaut is packed inside space shuttle Discovery to be taken to the International Space Station. The humanoid robot is the first to go into space, and will act as an assistant to the crew on the orbiting laboratory.

Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

More space shuttle news and information at nasa.gov/

Space shuttle Discovery has landed at the Kennedy Space Center after transporting it’s seven astronauts more than six million miles. The crew claimed a successful mission during a post flight press conference, even after facing the challenge of a stuck pressure valve on a replacement tank.

Discovery returned from mission STS-131 to the International Space Station, where the crew delivered more than seven tons of equipment and supplies. During the ten day mission, astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson executed three spacewalks, installed a 1,700-pound ammonia tank assembly on the station’s exterior, replaced a rate gyro assembly, and retrieved a Japanese experiment and two debris shields.

Source: NASA Space Shuttle Missions

They’ve retrieved a science experiment on the Japanese Kibo Laboratory, replaced a rate gyro assembly on the center segment of the station’s truss, and removed an ammonia tank used to help cool the station.

The accuracy and co-ordination between the astronauts while working in space is amazing. Imagine floating weightless in space for six-and-a-half-hours, while orbiting the earth at 17,000 miles an hour. Often they have to use the grappling robotic arm from the shuttle’s payload bay to latch onto a moving target. It’s a real tribute to the teamwork between the flight and ground crews.

Mission STS-131 continues with the transfer of science lab racks inside the space station.

Source: NASA TV on YouTube

Liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center took place at 6:21 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 5th.

Here is the video of the lift-off on NASA TV’s YouTube Channel.

Mission STS-131 Press Kit

Follow NASA’s Launch Blog beginning at 1:15 AM.

Commander Alan Poindexter, Pilot Jim Dutton, Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki will execute the 33rd shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

Discovery will carry a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the laboratories aboard the ISS. The mission has three planned spacewalks, with work to include replacing an ammonia tank assembly, retrieving a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior, and switching out a rate gyro assembly on the S0 segment of the station’s truss structure.

NASA Television Schedule & Video: nasa.gov/ntv

Official Press Kit for Mission STS-131

The International Space Station is 98 percent complete, following NASA’s last big construction project, known as the Tranquility connecting node and cupola. The project added a new room and observation deck to the space station, giving the ISS crew a 360 degree view of earth through it’s seven windows.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Nicholas Patrick conducted three spacewalks for a total of eighteen hours working outside the space station to install the Tranquility node. There’s only four more shuttle missions, including space shuttle Discovery, scheduled to liftoff in April.

NASA Shuttle Mission Pages