MIKE CURIE: This is Shuttle Launch Control at T-3 hours and counting.
Space shuttle Discovery stands awash in the glow of xenon light atop the
mobile launch platform at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A,
just hours away from beginning its 34th mission.
It will be STS-120 and the 120th flight in the Space Shuttle program.
Discovery's flight crew has been up since 1:30 this morning undergoing
preflight checks.
Tanking operations this morning began on time at 2:13 a.m.,
loading the external tank with more than 500,000 gallons of liquid
propellants that'll be used by the shuttle's three main engines to lift
Discovery to orbit.
Tanking operations went well. There were no problems and the process took
the expected time, about three hours.
Tanking operations were completed at 5:12 a.m.
We're working no serious technical issues or problems this morning.
After the completion of tanking operations,
the Final Inspection Team headed to Launch Pad 39A
and they're in the process of evaluating the pad surface and the vehicle
to look for the formation of any frost or ice build-up,
which could become hazards to the vehicle once Discovery lifts off.
The Final Inspection Team is making its way down from the 255-foot level.
They're currently at the 135-foot level and have reported no problems at this
point. New data drops have been installed at the 195-foot and 95-foot levels
of the fixed service structure to aid the Final Inspection Team in sending
imagery with the laptop computer to the Launch Control Center for quicker
image analysis. This is a new process that has begun on this mission. Again,
there are no technical issues that would preclude launch at this time.
Weather officers at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Weather Office and in
Houston at the Spaceflight Meteorology Group are assessing weather today,
and that will be an issue that we will work throughout the morning as we
prepare for the launch scheduled at 11:38 a.m. Eastern time.
We have about an hour and 10 minutes remaining in this hold
T-3 hours and holding.