Discovery attached to her Tank-Boosters Today

Here at the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, orbiter Discovery was mated to her external tank & boosters today to form the mission STS-119 shuttle stack.

Slated for rollout to launch pad 39-A early Wednesday morning, Discovery will spend the next few days running through attachment and wiring checks prior to rollout.

Discovery and her crew of seven will launch on February 12th to the international space station to attach the last solar array section, known as the starboard 6 truss. This will help support the increased permanent crew size this spring as station crews increase from three to six.

Of note: The STS-119 external tank and solid rocket boosters were to be used for the Hubble repair flight last Fall. However, when the flight was delayed, Atlantis was rolled back to the VAB and removed so that the set can used for Discovery.