SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 24 SEPTEMBER 2007
*Discovery Joins Tank and Boosters*
Discovery is lifted vertically. Image above: Inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building, space shuttle Discovery is lifted by a sling into a vertical position before being hoisted to the mobile launch platform along side the external tank and solid rocket boosters. Image credit: NASA + View larger image http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/170419main_verticle-lg.JPG
On Sunday, technicians moved space shuttle Discovery from its processing hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once inside, the orbiter was rotated into a vertical position and hoisted so that technicians could begin attaching Discovery to the external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters atop the mobile launch platform.
Discovery is currently scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39A on Sept. 30 in preparation for its launch on mission STS-120, targeted for Oct. 23. In advance of the shuttle's arrival, technicians will transfer to the launch pad the payload canister containing the International Space Station's Harmony module.
*Mission Information* + STS-120 Mission Overview http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts120/index.html + Harmony Node 2 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/harmony.html + Space Shuttle Discovery http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/orbiters/discovery-info.html