spacetoday.net: Shuttle cleared for early Tuesday launch

Shuttle cleared for early Tuesday launch

Posted: Thu, Aug 20, 2009, 10:41 PM ET (0241 GMT)

NASA officials approved plans Wednesday to launch the shuttle Discovery in the early morning hours of Tuesday. Discovery is scheduled to launch at 1:36 am EDT (0536 GMT) Tuesday on mission STS-128, a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. Shuttle managers reached this decision after concluding that foam loss from the external tank observed on the previous shuttle mission did not require NASA to perform additional checks of Discovery's tank. Discovery will bring various equipment ranks and other items to the station, including a treadmill. The mission will also swap one member of the station's six-person crew, replacing Tim Kopra with Nicole Stott.