Technicians Connecting GUCP to Discovery at Pad

Shuttle Discovery reached Launch Pad 39A at 2:55 a.m. EST following its 3.4 mile trek on the crawler-transporter from the Vehicle Assembly Building. First motion began at 7:58 p.m. EST Monday.

The rotating service structure was closed around Discovery a little before 6 a.m. EST. Technicians now are working on connecting the ground umbilical carrier plate or GUCP. Leak checks are scheduled for Friday. The shuttle was powered up this morning as part of the initial check out of systems.

At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Discovery’s STS-133 astronauts are reviewing photo/TV operations today before Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Eric Boe conduct Shuttle Training Aircraft training runs around the White Sands Space Harbor, N.M.

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