Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Shuttle mission marks transition

|
|
 
  
NASA's Space Shuttle "Discovery" launches at 11:59 PM from Complex 39A on mission STS 128 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 28, 2009. Discovery is carrying the Leonardo module and her seven person crew to the International Space Station on mission STS 128. Astronauts will conduct three spacewalks and deliver nearly 8 tons of payload as they continue construction efforts to the station. UPI/Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell 
Published: Aug. 29, 2009 at 6:53 AM

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The shuttle Discovery's 37th mission marked the transition from assembling the International Space Station to using it for continuous research, NASA said.

Discovery, with seven astronauts aboard, launched from Cape Canaveral Friday at 11:59 p.m. EDT for a 13-day flight that includes installation of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, a pressurized "moving van," NASA officials said Saturday.

The module contains storage racks for materials and fluids, a freezer, a sleeping compartment, an air purification system and a treadmill named after comedian Stephen Colbert.

The additional facilities will let crew members increase the time devoted to research in the station, designed as an orbiting laboratory.

"Thanks to everyone who helped prepare for this mission. Let's go step up the science on the International Space Station," shuttle Commander Rick Sturckow said shortly before liftoff.

Recommended Stories
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
Not many companies can claim that their net domain address clearly explains what it is that the...
"Any self-important, self-propagating elitist, I will happily bare my buttocks to"
You don't have to be too smart to coach high school sports. Just smart enough to not post nude photos...
There's vandalizing your school, and then there's doing a million dollars damage to your school
Police say Taylor Burnham, 18, was only wearing cowboy boots as she led police on a Sunday morning...
If you're working as a dog groomer and accidentally chop off a dog's ear, don't try to glue it back,...