May 31 2008
From The Space Library
Space Shuttle Discovery launched from NASA’s KSC at 21:02 (UT), commencing Mission STS- 124 to the ISS. During liftoff, observers noticed pieces of insulating foam falling from Discovery’s external fuel tank; however, NASA officials stated that they were not worried about the foam, since it had fallen after the time when it could have damaged the spacecraft. Seven crew members were aboard the Space Shuttle, including American astronauts, Commander Mark E. Kelly, Pilot Kenneth T. Ham, Gregory E. Chamitoff, Michael E. Fossum, Ronald J. Garan Jr., and Karen L. Nyberg, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. During the mission, the astronauts planned to repair a broken toilet on the ISS and to install on the Japanese Kibo laboratory a new, 16-tonne (16,000-kilogram or 35,273-pound) room, known as the Japanese Pressurized Module (JPM). The astronauts planned three spacewalks. In addition to installing the JPM, they intended to clean a damaged power-supply rotary joint and to perform routine maintenance. NASA planned for the mission to last for 14 days. Garrett E. Reisman, who had been aboard the ISS since March 2008, would return to Earth with the STS-124 crew, and Chamitoff would remain aboard the ISS in his place.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 655; NASA, “NASA’s Shuttle Discovery Launches with Japanese Laboratory,” news release 08-136, 31 May 2008, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/may/HQ_08136_STS-124_launch_release.html (accessed 16 March 2011); John Schwartz, “Shuttle Discovery Heads Toward the Space Station,” New York Times, 1 June 2008.
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