Discovery's return marks the completion of the STS-120 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). During their stay the STS-120 crew continued construction of the Station with the delivery of the Italian-built Node 2 module and the relocation of the P6 truss. For ESA the landing also marks the completion of Nespoli's Esperia Mission. Node 2, also known as Harmony, was installed on the port facing side of Node 1 (Unity) on 26 October during the first of four spacewalks. The P6 truss was relocated from the top of the Station to the port end of the Station's backbone structure.

The tasks during the fourth spacewalk were changed so that the crew could repair the solar array on the P6 truss which tore during deployment. Following the successful repair work, the crew was able to fully deploy the solar array. A fifth spacewalk originally planned to take place during the STS-120 mission is now scheduled for the Expedition crew on 9 November.

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli's main role as STS-120 Mission Specialist was to act as Intra Vehicular (IV) astronaut during the four spacewalks, coordinating activities from inside the International Space Station, as well as a major role in spacewalk preparations. He was also heavily involved in activities to reschedule the fourth spacewalk.

Nespoli's mission, which was named Esperia from the ancient Greek name for the Italian peninsula, stems from six flight opportunities granted to the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for their provision of three pressurised cargo containers (Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules, or MPLMs) to NASA under a bilateral agreement. The close cooperation between ESA and ASI led to the assignment of Nespoli, a member of the European Astronaut Corps, for this ASI flight opportunity.

Discovery on the Move Again
Teams of workers and technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida have hooked up hoses and a tow cart to space shuttle Discovery and are moving the spacecraft to its specialized hangar. Discovery made a perfect landing at Kennedy earlier in the afternoon and will be prepared for another launch next year.

The astronauts are recuperating from more than two weeks in space at the astronaut crew quarters at Kennedy and are expected to fly home to Houston on Thursday.

Commander Pam Melroy came away from a quick inspection after landing impressed with how well the spacecraft held up through the mission.

"We could not have done this mission without Discovery being as clean and beautiful as it was," she said at the runway. "I think the whole agency had to pull together for this particular mission. We saw a lot of very unusual things happen."

The crew performed an unprecedented spacewalk to repair a torn solar array blanket on the International Space Station and attached a critical module called Harmony that will connect future laboratory segments in space.

NASA administrator Mike Griffin said the mission showed the agency "at its very best. It just does not get any better."

The pace of work for the shuttle program does not relax. Space shuttle Atlantis is to roll out to the launch pad Saturday for a Dec. 6 launch on STS-122.

"It'll be exciting," NASA associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier said about the flurry of work in space and at NASA centers.

Related Links
Space Shuttle Discovery
STS-120 (NASA)
Shuttle at NASA
Watch NASA TV via Space.TV
Space Shuttle News at Space-Travel.Com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News