Space shuttle Discovery set to fly on Dec 7

By Staff
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Cape Canaveral (Fla), Dec 6: Space shuttle Discovery remainedon track for tomorrow night liftoff though NASA was beginning to havesome misgivings about an approaching cold front, officials said.

The launch is scheduled for 0936 Hrs (0806 hrs IST on Friday) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

''The teams are ready and we're looking forward to an incrediblemission of space shuttle Discovery and a safe and successful landing,''Steve Payne, a shuttle launch manager, said at a briefing.

The purpose of the flight, which will be NASA's third and finalshuttle mission this year, is to rewire the International SpaceStation's power system and to deliver an external truss segment,supplies and a new resident crew member.

A cold front was expected to move through Central Florida over thenext two days but should leave skies clear enough for the shuttle'sliftoff Thursday night.

Meteorologists predicted a 70 per cent chance weather conditions will be suitable for launch.

But if the shuttle is grounded by bad weather or technicalconcerns, the outlook for the rest of the week is bleak, with highwinds and possible rain expected in the area.

''The first day is the best weather-wise,'' said meteorologist Kathy Winters.

For now, NASA has ruled out launch attempts beyond December 17 toavoid having the shuttle in orbit during the transition to the newyear. The shuttle's computers would need a time-consuming softwarepatch installed if it were in orbit on January 1, in order to remainsynchronized with ground-base navigation systems.

''This mission has got a lot on its plate,'' Payne said.

''We'd rather not give them all that extra work.''


Reuters

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