SPACEPHOTOS

(10/05/2000) -- With the Rotating Service Structure rolled back, Space Shuttle Discovery is revealed on the Mobile Launcher Platform at Launch Pad 39A. Discovery is being readied for the STS-92 mission launch to the International Space Station (ISS). At the top is the 13-foot-wide “beanie cap,” at the end of the Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm, designed to vent gaseous oxygen vapors away from the Space Shuttle. Lower is the Orbiter Access Arm with the environmental chamber, known as the “white room,” extended to the orbiter. The chamber provides entry for the crew into the orbiter and also serves as emergency egress up to 7 minutes 24 seconds before launch. The STS-92 mission payload includes Integrated Truss Structure Z-1, an early exterior framework to allow the first U.S. solar arrays on a future flight to be temporarily installed on Unity for early power; Ku-band communication to support early science capability and U.S. television; and the third Pressurized Mating Adapter to provide a Shuttle docking port for solar array installation on the sixth ISS flight and Lab installation on the seventh ISS flight. The 11-day mission will include four spacewalks. Liftoff is scheduled for Oct. 6 at 9:16 p.m. EDT