This is excellent news:
NASA said on Thursday it planned to launch the space shuttle Discovery on July 13, the first shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster in 2003.The U.S. space agency had previously hoped to launch Discovery in May, but halted that plan in April, saying more work was needed on a redesigned fuel tank. Since then, Discovery has been rolled back out onto the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Yahoo! News
I went to Kennedy Space Center with my wife on June 18. The Shuttle had just been put on the launch pad a few days before. It’s impressive to see even from a mile away, which is the closest they will let you get to the launch site while a shuttle is being prepared. (That’s also how I took the photo above)
NASA offers a lot of Webcasts concerning this mission, which can be viewed here. I’ll definitely try to see it in person, maybe even snap some photos. This is probably one of the last chances I’ll get to see one of these.
Also keep your eyes peeled on news concerning this mission that will have a probe crash into a meteor at 23,000 mph/37,000 kph. It is scheduled for this weekend with the actual impact occurring on Monday.
