MS. STILSON: And now, Scott is here with us in the NASA Direct studio. Welcome, Scott.
MR. HIGGINBOTHAM: Thanks, Stephanie. It's good to be here.
MS. STILSON: Quite a few payload questions were submitted to our question board. Are you ready to answer some of them?
MR. HIGGINBOTHAM: You betcha. MS. STILSON: First one is from Becca in Atlanta. What payloads will Discovery be carrying on this flight
and will any of the astronauts be staying on the Space Station? MR. HIGGINBOTHAM: Well, let's see. From an ISS point of view,
the primary goal for this mission is to carry stuff up and back from the Station. To accomplish that goal,
we've got three very specialized cargo-carrying elements that will be flying in the payload bay of Discovery.
The first is the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, Raffaello, which is going to carry up supplies for use inside the Space Station.
And then we also have two carriers that are carrying up things to use on the outside of the Space Station.
The first is the Lightweight MPESS Carrier, or LMC. And the LMC is going to carry parts and tools for the crew to use on orbit.
And then there's the External Stowage Platform or ESP. The ESP is going to be left behind,
mated to the airlock of the International Space Station and is, basically, a parking place for large spare parts to use in the future.
All in all, we're carrying up 28,000 pounds of hardware to the Station. As far as the crew is concerned,
the seven astronauts that are launching up to the Station are going to return home on Discovery.
The Space Station's current residents, John Phillips and Sergei Krikalev are going to stay on board until they return to Earth in October.