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Mission controllers at NASA are discussing a possible problem with space shuttle Discovery on Friday. Astronauts said they noticed a shiny, rectangular-shaped object trailing the shuttle after a rocket was fired. NASA officials said they're analyzing video and photos to determine if the part came from the shuttle or cargo bay. They're hoping to determine if it could pose a problem for the crew during the re-entry and landing on Saturday morning.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Space shuttle Discovery performed a slow back flip and then docked at the international space station Monday, delivering a mammoth lab and two new occupants: a NASA astronaut and Buzz Lightyear. Commander Mark Kelly pulled up to the space station and parked as the two spacecraft soared 210 miles above the South Pacific. Discovery carried Japan's prized Kibo lab, a 37-foot-long, 16-ton scientific workshop. The seven shuttle astronauts and three station residents will combine forces to install the bus-size lab on Tuesday. The shuttle crew also brought a spare toilet pump for the orbiting outpost....

HOUSTON (AP) — Space shuttle Discovery's seven-member crew completed an inspection of the spacecraft's wings Sunday afternoon, looking for any signs of damage after launching a day earlier.Discovery, making its way to the international space station, is carrying the orbiting outpost's biggest room by far — Japan's $1 billion lab. The shuttle is also delivering a spare pump for the space station's malfunctioning toilet.But the inspection of the shuttle was not as thorough as it normally is because the school-bus-size lab, named Kibo — Japanese for hope — takes up almost the entire payload bay.That left no room for a...

This will be the official thread for the launching of the Space Shuttle Discovery..

Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Apr 17, 2008 The cargo aboard the space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-124 already has traveled halfway around Earth, more than 10,000 miles over land and sea. It's now ready for the culmination of its 23-year journey to the International Space Station. Hope will take flight on Discovery. Or rather, the centerpiece of Kibo, a laboratory complex named for the Japanese word for hope, will take flight. STS-124 will launch the main segment of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's - or JAXA's - station laboratory. Kibo's Japanese Pressurized Module, or JPM, is 14.4 feet in diameter...

This will be the official thread for the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery.. What a mission!!!!

With the Space Shuttle Discovery having successfully undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) early Monday morning, skywatchers across much of the United States and southern Canada are now in for a real treat on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Weather permitting, there will be opportunities to see both the Discovery orbiter and the ISS independently flying across the sky from many locations. The sight should easily be visible to anyone, even from brightly lit cities. The appearance of either the space shuttle or the space station moving across the sky is not in itself unusual. On any clear morning within...

Physician-astronaut Scott Parazynski, working on the end of a boom carried by the space station's robot arm, successfully repaired a mangled solar array today, cutting away a snarled guidewire, installing five suture-like braces and then standing by while his crewmates extended the array its full 110-foot length. Working with deliberate care, astronaut Dan Tani, sending commands from a computer inside the shuttle-station complex, extended the array's central mast a half bay at a time, stopping and letting Parazynski assess the health of the repairs as tension slowly built up on the just-installed braces. There were no problems and as the...

The space shuttle Discovery, which rocketed into orbit Tuesday morning, is scheduled to dock with the international space station at 5:35 a.m. today, and the docked duo should be easily visible this evening if smoke from Southland fires does not obscure them. Discovery's mission, the 120th in the space shuttle program, is commanded by former Edwards Air Force Base test pilot Pam Melroy. The main goals of the mission are to add a module to the space station to expand living and working space and to relocate a set of solar arrays on the orbiting laboratory. The conjoined spacecraft, based...

This is going to the be the live thread for the Space Shuttle Discovery. The reason why I'm posting this now it is because I have to work tomorrow...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2007 – Retired Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy will become the second woman to command a NASA space shuttle flight when Discovery lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., tomorrow. Retired Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy is the second woman to command a space shuttle mission. NASA photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The STS-120 flight is the 23rd shuttle mission to the International Space Station, according NASA’s Web site. The mission will launch an Italian-built U.S. multi-port module for the station. The “Harmony” device will provide attachment points for European and Japanese laboratory...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A giant leap is about to be made for womankind. When space shuttle Discovery blasts off Tuesday, a woman will be sitting in the commander’s seat. And up at the international space station, a female skipper will be waiting to greet her. It will be the first time in the 50-year history of spaceflight that two women are in charge of two spacecraft at the same timeThis is no public relations gimmick cooked up by NASA. It’s coincidence, which pleases shuttle commander Pamela Melroy and station commander Peggy Whitson.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The next mission of the space shuttle Discovery set for liftoff Tuesday is critical to building the International Space Station, ferrying in the Harmony module key to installing the European lab Columbus and Japan's Kibo lab. Harmony, a big Italian-made aluminum tube weighing in at 14.3 tonnes, will connect the two labs to the outpost and give it its almost final shape. NASA plans to bring in the Columbus on an Atlantis shuttle flight December 6 and the Kibo early in 2008. Discovery's crew of seven includes five men and two women, one of whom is Commander...

NASA is racing the clock for a space shuttle flight — and desperately hoping it never gets off the ground. Not Endeavour — scheduled to lift off next week with a crew of seven, including schoolteacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan — but sister shuttle Discovery, which is being readied for launch at short notice. Discovery will mount a rescue mission if Endeavour flies into trouble and its crew has to be brought back. After Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere in February 2003, scientists developed several methods for repairing stricken shuttles. These include wing sensors to detect impacts, a redesigned fuel...

When Mark Polansky reaches space, he'll have brought a little piece of Jersey with him. The astronaut is scheduled to lift off tonight from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. He is commanding the STS-116 mission to the International Space Station. But his journey began as a boy growing up by Roosevelt Park in North Edison, a pharmacist's son who devoured books on science, was glued to the television for all the early space launches and pretended a cardboard box was a spaceship. "I loved geography. I loved the idea of exploring," Polansky said. "I figured...

This is will be the official thread for the Space Shuttle Discovery landing at KSC or either at Edwards or White Sands.

For the first time in more than five years, members of the general public may have the opportunity to watch a space shuttle landing in person at Edwards Air Force Base. The base, the primary backup landing site for the shuttle, will open its gates Friday to view the return of Discovery, if conditions prevent using the main landing site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Due to limited supplies on board Discovery, and a worsening weather forecast for Saturday, shuttle officials are pushing for a Friday landing. Because the landing site decision will not be made until 60 to...

The decision earlier this week to add a spacewalk to Discovery's mission and still preserve a final heat shield inspection today forced NASA managers to delay re-entry one day to Friday and in so doing, give up one of three end-of-mission landing opportunities. With only two available landing days - Friday and Saturday - NASA flight rules require a landing attempt Friday, even if that means diverting the shuttle to California or New Mexico. The latter option is a worst-case scenario that could expose the orbiter to sub-freezing weather for two days, possibly damaging thruster seals and water lines, and...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Fresh from the success of an impromptu spacewalk, shuttle Discovery's astronauts awoke Tuesday to the strains of "Zamboni" by the Gear Daddies and got ready to undock from the international space station. "We can't offer you a Zamboni to drive today," said Mission Control astronaut Shannon Lucid, referring to the ice rink machine immortalized in the Minnesota band's country rock song. "But if you look at today's flight plan, you will see that we are offering you the opportunity to fly the shuttle for half a lap flyaround. That's not a bad tradeoff." Space shuttle Discovery's...

Will the Shuttle go or not... It all depends on the weather...