Technicians are taking the final steps today before they remove the right-side orbital maneuvering system pod on space shuttle Discovery. The pod, including the OMS engine, will be removed Thursday. Shuttles have two OMS pods, each with an engine that produces about 6,000 pounds of thrust. The pods also house several smaller thrusters. The work is being done to prepare Discovery for the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station.
The astronauts who will fly the mission are practicing spacewalking techniques in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.