Discovery Space Shuttle

Space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven astronauts thundered through a blue Florida sky Saturday afternoon on a mission to deliver a Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station and to help fix some nagging plumbing problems on board. The start of NASA's 123rd shuttle mission went smoothly; it is expected to dock with the station Monday. Some of the details of the two-week mission: The crew Veteran astronaut Navy Cmdr. Mark E. Kelly, who is married to Rep.

NASA has replaced a leaky hydraulic seal in space shuttle Discovery's landing gear, and if testing continues to go well, next month's launch will remain on track, officials said Friday. Even though only one seal in the right main landing-gear strut was leaking hydraulic fluid last week, all four of the rubber seals were replaced Wednesday, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said. The repair took less time than expected, Beutel said.

NASA's second female commander and her six crew mates flew into Kennedy Space Center for training and a rehearsal for a planned Oct. 23 liftoff. Cmdr. Pamela Melroy becomes the second woman to lead a shuttle mission, following in the footsteps of retired astronaut Eileen Collins. Melroy will oversee shuttle Discovery's planned 14-day flight to deliver and install a new module to the International Space Station.

Discovery's astronauts used lasers and digital cameras to examine the space shuttle's wings for any signs of launch damage, officials said at Cape Canaveral. The inspection is standard procedure, but it's an even higher priority this time because of questions about possible flaws in three wing panels. John Shannon, head of the mission management team, said a preliminary look at the images revealed nothing of significance.

NASA managers have extended the mission of space shuttle Discovery by a day so that the astronauts can take a closer look at a problem discovered over the weekend with the solar arrays powering the International Space Station. The decision to perform what the space agency called "exploratory surgery" was made Monday after spacewalking astronauts from Discovery found what appeared to be metal shavings inside a joint that rotates to allow the solar panels to track the sun.

Shuttle Discovery's astronauts bade a tearful farewell to the International Space Station crew, returned to their spaceship and sealed the hatch after a successful but trying 10-day mission. The shuttle is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday. The shuttle crew includes returning space station flight engineer Clayton Anderson, who was replaced by Daniel M. Tani.

Shuttle Discovery's astronauts examined the wings of their ship to ensure a safe descent over the American heartland after leaving the International Space Station. On the ride home Wednesday, the shuttle will make the first coast-to-coast reentry since Columbia shattered in the sky over Texas in 2003. Discovery was not supposed to reenter over the entire United States. -- just Florida. But that would have entailed a predawn landing, and shuttle commander Pamela A.

The space shuttle Discovery landed Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, successfully concluding a two-week mission to the International Space Station that featured some of the most challenging tasks in the 26-year history of the shuttle program. Discovery, with commander Pamela A. Melroy at the controls, touched down at 10:01 a.m. PST, after executing a series of sweeping turns to bleed off the shuttle's orbital speed of about 18,000 mph.

Crew members chosen for NASA's second space shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster said Friday that they were confident that fuel-tank changes would result in a safe, but not debris-free, liftoff. The modifications were ordered after shuttle Discovery's fuel tank shed large pieces of insulating foam during July's launch, the first mission since the Columbia accident -- which was caused by falling foam. "The program has never advertised that we would never lose any foam," said Steven W.

The launch of the space shuttle Discovery will be delayed from May until at least July to allow engineers time to replace sensors in the craft's hydrogen fuel tank, NASA said Tuesday. A malfunction in the sensors, which monitor hydrogen levels in the tank, could cause the shuttle's rocket engines to shut down prematurely, potentially endangering the mission.