An article posted today discussed the recent news in US space travel. Despite safety concerns voiced by a team of NASA engineers, the US space shuttle Discovery took off for the International Space Station. The shuttle is led by Commander Pam Melroy, who is only the second woman to head a shuttle team since the program began in 1981. The shuttle reached Earth's orbit within 8.5 minutes and set course for the ISS where it is due to dock on Thursday for its 10-day mission. There were fears that the mission would be delayed because a small chunk of ice measuring about 10 centimeters long was found outside the craft on a liquid oxygen supply cable. However, officials agreed that the ice posed no danger to the craft or the crew.
The Discovery's main mission is to deliver the Harmony module. This module is key to installing the future European lab Columbus and Japan's Kibo lab on the ISS. Harmony will connect the two labs to the output and give it its almost final shape. The ISS is a $100 billion project in which 16 countries are taking part to ready the way for manned Mars missions in the future. Discovery's crew of seven includes five men and one other woman. This mission is key to the future of manned flights to Mars and will take us even closer to the Red Planet.
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