Leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida,
Discovery began its journey to Launch Pad 39A in the early morning darkness.
Stacked with its solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank on the mobile launcher platform,
the shuttle began its slow roll to the pad atop a crawler-transporter at about 2 a.m. EDT on August. 4.
The 3.4-mile trip to the seaside launch pad took approximately 12 hours.
Technicians at the pad will install in Discovery's cargo bay the STS-128 payload of equipment bound for the
International Space Station as launch preparations continue throughout the next few weeks.
This will be Discovery's 37th mission, and the 30th mission of a
space shuttle dedicated to the assembly and maintenance of the space station.
From NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, I'm George Diller.