NASA has finally announced the successful launch of space shuttle Discovery on March 15, 2009, at 7:43 p.m. EDT, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The announcement came after several delays over the past month, caused by technical issues with the spacecraft.
“It was a true team effort at NASA,” NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier said after the launch. “There was a lot of critical work that needed to be done and they just did a phenomenal job.”
NASA engineers have been working around the clock to make this launch possible, after a leak associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system prevented it from happening on Wednesday. The components associated with the failed system have been replaced, and on Sunday, no other problems were reported.
All the efforts into making it a perfect launch seem to have paid off, as they turned into a smooth launch, with no incidents reported.
Discovery’s mission is to carry the fourth and final set of solar array wings, which will complete the International Space Station’s backbone. The arrays will provide enough electricity to power the science experiments on the station, and support an extended crew of six.
“More crew means that we'll have to run more life support equipment, more crew support equipment – toilet facilities, water processing equipment and all of that stuff,” said Kwatsi Alibaruho, the lead space station flight director for the mission. “We'll have to run more of all of that, so we need additional power.”
The mission will last 13 days, and will include three spacewalks (although the initial plan for the mission was to last 14 days and to include 4 spacewalks). During these spacewalks, the STS-119 crew will help install the S6 segment to the starboard, will deploy the solar arrays, and will replace a failed unit for the system that converts urine into water.
The solar arrays carried by the STS-119 mission include two solar array wings, each of them with two 115-foot-long arrays, for a total wing span of 240 feet. The four sets of arrays will be able to generate 84 to 120 kilowatts of electricity, which would be enough to provide power for 40 average homes, NASA said.
During one of the spacewalks, the fourth truss segment will be installed on the station, with the help of the station’s robotic arm. The process is not a new one for NASA, but the people to perform it are new, Discovery Commander Lee Archambault said.
The Discovery crew includes Commander Lee Archambault, who will lead the team, Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, John Phillips and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, who will replace Sandra Magnus on the ISS. Wakata is scheduled to return to Earth with the STS-127 mission, which will launch in June 2009.
