Space shuttle Discovery now is inside the expansive confines of NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building following a move from its processing hangar this morning. A metal sling will be carefully connected to the spacecraft and then operators will hoist it from transfer aisle to the high reaches of the 52-story building before lowering it into place beside the external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. Crews then will connect the spacecraft giving the stack its familiar launch day form. Discovery is targeted to liftoff on the 11-day STS-133 mission on Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. EDT.
At NASA’s Johnson Space Center, STS-133 Mission Specialists Alvin Drew and Tim Kopra will rehearse procedures for the mission’s second spacewalk in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.