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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, Fla. - After being rushed in from Russia, a toilet pump was loaded into space shuttle Discovery on Thursday just in time for this weekend's liftoff to the international space station, where the lone commode is acting up. A NASA employee based in Moscow hand-carried the pump on a commercial flight that touched down Wednesday night. Within hours, the pump and related equipment were packed away aboard Discovery. Discovery is scheduled to blast off Saturday on a 14-day mission. The main delivery item is a 37-foot-long Japanese lab; it will be the biggest room once installed at the...

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...