The second to last space shuttle launch to ever occur will begin soon. The next to previous mission on the space shuttle launch schedule can be the liftoff of the space shuttle Discovery on Wednesday, Nov. 3 from Cape Canaveral. The mission for Discovery will take it to the International Space Station, and it seems a nondescript ending for the craft. The Discovery is set to be mothballed and replace the Enterprise in the Smithsonian after it returns. Article resource – Preparations begin for final Discovery space shuttle launch by Personal Money Store.
The previous Discovery space shuttle launch
On Wednesday, Nov. 3, the final space shuttle launch for Discovery will lift off around 3:52 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, based on MSNBC. The International Space Station will get to see six astronauts that will come within the space shuttle Discovery. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has used Discovery for more missions than other things and it is not the last shuttle mission, just the last mission for Discovery. Once this launch is wrapped up, there will be only one more National Aeronautics and Space Administration launch of a space shuttle. The govt has not announced a replacement for the shuttle program, however it is presumed to be looking into solutions from the private industry to find a “space taxi” of sorts to ferry astronauts into orbit.
Now we see the era ends
There is a reason why the space shuttle program is ending. The Space Shuttle Columbia is part of this reason. Columbia disintegrated upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere in 2003, which caused then-President Bush to cancel the shuttle program, based on ABC. The replacement program brought Apollo-size rockets and capsules back and was called the constellation program. The Obama administration cancelled that though. The program was cut because it was believed to use old ideas, and since the goal was to revisit the moon, it was just a rehash of the Apollo program. Still in design stage is the Hundred Year Starship. That could be something different though.
What National Aeronautics and Space Administration will do now
NASA has been working with contractors on something new. A new way of transportation is being looked into. One of the contenders is the Falcon series rockets from Space X, a business founded by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Articles cited
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com/id/39948971/ns/technology_and_science-space/
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/Technology/florida-unemployment-acute-space-coast-jobs-threatened-end/story?id=12019380&page=1
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