NASA’s space shuttle Discovery was moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building yesterday. Discovery’s mission, STS-119, is to install the final truss segement and the International Space Station’s final pair of solar panels. Launch is scheduled for Feb. 12 and is expected to last 14 days.
SpaceX has begun assembly of its first rocket at Cape Canaveral, FL. The company wants to launch 5 rockets this year: a maiden flight sponsored by a U.S. government customer that the company will not name and two demonstration flights under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. The demo flights are intended to prove that SpaceX is ready to begin making regular cargo runs to the International Space Station under a $1.6 billion contract NASA awarded a few weeks ago.
