Known as "STS-133," last voyage of discovery will have 11 days. The shuttle is offering a variety of components and modules for the space station and carrying an interesting Hitchhiker '--a humanoid robot called "robonaut 2", or "r2".
"The final Flight of discovery involves delivery of a last few components to the ISS," said Stevens Institute of Technology Professor Debra Lepore space systems, lead engineer for the U.S. Congressional Panel technician of the space launch modernization plan of engineering.
"Components can host science experiments, expand laboratory capacity and increase the storage space," Lepore told TechNewsWorld. "Think of them as extra rooms added to a modular home."
With the discovery, NASA will shutter its entire program having completed two shuttle missions.
U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords--recovering from injuries in a rehabilitation clinic in Houston--will be watching as her husband Mark Kelly joins shuttle Endeavour crew for his final flight April 19.
The shuttle Atlantis flies 28 June.
Takes a vessel piloted by 17th century explorer Henry Hudson, discovery began his career in 1984, going to a "rich history in human space flight, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden blog in a final tribute.
"It was my honour to fly aboard Discovery mission STS-31, in 1990, when she brought the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit."And STS-60, when Sergei Krikalyov, the first Russian to fly on an American spacecraft, was a member of the crew, he remembered.
With its uplifting story, discovered kept the fires of space exploration in life in the wake of the Challenger and Columbia shuttle tragedies, wrote Bolden.
"The shuttle Discovery is now the oldest operating, after very sad loss of Challenger, Columbia and their crews," said the researcher human space exploration Stephen Braham, Ph. d., who heads the PolyLAB Simon Fraser University.
"Together with the Hubble telescope, Discovery launched numerous probes, including advanced Satellite communication Test (acts)," Braham told TechNewsWorld. "Acts defined modern media Ka-band and was used by my team in the Arctic, in 1999, NASA Haughton-Mars project".
Discovery may be the most successful in history. She has led the crews safer from and into space than any other ship. Among the many firsts: she was the first to bring a satellite back to Earth; before you have a woman at the helm; before taking the oldest person in space--77-year-old John Glenn; in the first place to host an African-American walker of space; and before flying a member of Congress in orbit, Utah Senator Jake Garn.
Its final mission, Braham said, "is critical and involves the veteran NASA astronauts to such importance".
Not only the team installs the latest ISS modular components, but they "will show the importance of next-generation tele-robotics for future exploration of the solar system," said Braham. "Robonaut 2 will help you understand how human beings can operate robot to maintain systems in space and also to explore the surface of Mars and the moons of Mars".
After the shuttle program ends this year, "The United States will have to rely on Russia for the part with ISS crew until private clothes may come on line," said UCLA aerospace engineering graduate student Lord Cole.
"Because the space shuttle was a large part of the NASA and its public image, it will be interesting to see which direction to go in," Cole told TechNewsWorld.
With the Russian crew shuttle missions, ISS can become a national laboratory that allows a much wider array of international partners to conduct "good science," explained Lepore Stevens '. "We could change in tandem with private companies to replace the shuttle program."
Call the launch on Thursday "Bittersweet", NASA's Bolden wrote that he looks at the commerical aerospace industry as an important part of "what does the future hold for humans in space. Commercial space is rapidly becoming a reality. "
For now, however, Bolden wanted his crew "Godspeed, during the final journey of this tough bird."
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