NASA managers are gathered at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today for a final readiness review for the upcoming flight of space shuttle Discovery. The STS-120 mission to the International Space Station is currently targeted for launch on Oct. 23. At the conclusion of today's review, agency managers will announce an official launch date at a live news conference on NASA TV. The conference is scheduled to begin no earlier than 7 p.m. EDT.
Last week, the STS-120 astronauts capped off three days of exercises and training at Kennedy by boarding Discovery for a simulated countdown on Oct. 10. After the rehearsal concluded, the crew members flew back to their home base at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to complete their final preparations for liftoff.
While the astronauts practiced for launch, shuttle program managers held two days of meetings in advance of today's review. One of the topics discussed before the conclusion of last week's program review involved the reinforced carbon-carbon, or RCC, on Discovery's wing leading edge panels. In the past, there have been post-flight indications that the edges of a couple of panels have lost small amounts of their upper-level coating. Thermography, or thermal imagery, has been used to inspect the panels in order to identify any internal defects that could lead to coating loss.
The NASA Engineering and Safety Center has been working with shuttle engineers to better understand the potential causes of coating loss. At last Wednesday's meeting, the center recommended replacing three of Discovery's 44 panels.
Discovery has flown at least twice with these panels in the current condition, and with no indications of degradation based on thermography. At this point, the Space Shuttle Program has determined that Discovery's astronauts can safely carry out their mission without having to replace the panels.
