NASA to Conduct Final Review of Humanoid Carrying Discovery Mission

NASA has declared that it will conduct the final preview of its Discovery space shuttle mission during a sequence of news briefings to be held at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on October 21. Press reporters will be allowed during this session. It was reported that the agency’s website and NASA television will live telecast the discussions.

The Discovery will launch the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station for a period of 11 days and is scheduled to be launched on November 1. This spacecraft will carry the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM), a module carrying the first humanoid called as Robonaut 2, or R2 to space. The PMM provides extra storage space for the crew members of the space station and also enables them to perform experiments inside the module. Other than PMM, Discovery will include significant spare parts and Express Logistics Carrier 4, which is a peripheral platform holding a big device which can be delivered only by this shuttle due to its novel efficiency.

It was reported that Eric Boe will be the pilot and the spacecraft will be commanded by the Astronaut Steve Lindsey. Other members include Tim Kopra, Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott and Michael Barratt. Two spacewalks will be carried out by Drew and Kopra for including the new machinery and to perform repair work.