By Xinhua
Washington : US space shuttle Discovery has been rolled out to its seaside launch pad in Florida in preparation for the Oct 23 launch to the International Space Station (ISS), according to NASA website updates.
The shuttle began its slow 5.5 km journey Sunday in the early morning darkness at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The crawler-transporter carrying the massive shuttle assembly arrived at the launch pad after about six hours.
Also at the pad is the payload canister containing the Harmony module that the Discovery crew will deliver to the ISS. Harmony will be installed in Discovery’s payload bay as launch preparations continue at the pad, said NASA.
The mission, designated STS-120, will be NASA’s third flight mission in 2007. Discovery’s crew of seven astronauts will conduct four space walks during the 14-day mission.
NASA hopes to complete the construction of ISS before the shuttle fleet is grounded in 2010.