NASA Gives GO for Launch of Discovery Today

Kennedy Space Center – Early this morning NASA managers met to discuss whether to launch the space shuttle Discovery today. With weather significantly improved over yesterday the decision was made to GO for launch at 3:04 pm EDT.

After a stormy day Thursday, Friday is looking like a great day to launch. There is a 70% chance of launch with the only concern potential wind gusts at launch time. At this time NASA is currently filling the external tank with its flight load of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. This operating is expected to last until approximately 8:38 a.m.

You can watch ongoing preparations for launch on NASA TV. We’re also tweeting updates to the SpaceRef Twitter account.

Discovery will deliver to the International Space Station the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) as well as the Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4) to the station and Robonaut 2 (R2), the first human-like robot in space.