Oct 23, 2007
BY
ARNEWS and NASA
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 23, 2007) -- Army Astronaut Col. Douglas H. Wheelock blasted off at 11:48 a.m. Tuesday as the Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., with a mission of delivering equipment to the International Space Station.
The seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle are to spend 14 days in space during the mission and are scheduled to conduct five space walks. Objectives for the flight include delivering a new modular addition to the space station and to move a tower of solar arrays to a new position on the orbiting laboratory.
The flight will also deliver Astronaut Daniel Tani to help man the space station and bring home his predecessor, Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson.
The mission, STS-120, is the 23rd shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Retired Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy is commanding the mission. She is the second woman to command a space shuttle.
Army Astronaut Lifts Off for Space Station