CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has set the news conferences, events and operating hours for the news center for the final scheduled launch of space shuttle Discovery.
The spacecraft’s STS-133 mission to the International Space Station is set to lift off at 4:40 p.m. EDT on Monday, Nov. 1.
A NASA blog will update the countdown beginning at 11:15 a.m. Nov. 1. Originating from Kennedy’s Launch Control Center, the blog is the definitive Internet source for information leading up to launch. During the mission, visitors to NASA’s shuttle website may read about the crew’s progress and watch the mission’s two spacewalks live.
As Discovery’s flight concludes, the NASA blog will detail the spacecraft’s return to Earth. For NASA’s launch blog and continuous mission updates, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
Detailed lists of countdown milestones, news briefing times and participants, and hours of operation for Kennedy’s news center and media credentialing office are posted online. Journalists at the news center and its annex will be provided free wireless Internet access. Instructions for wireless access will be available at the news center. For the detailed lists of events, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news
The NASA News Twitter feed will be updated throughout the shuttle launch countdown, mission and landing. To follow, visit: http://www.twitter.com/nasa
NASA astronaut and STS-133 Mission Specialist Nicole Stott will be tweeting about her prelaunch preparations and is expected to provide updates to her Twitter account during the shuttle mission. Stott can be followed at: http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Nicole
NASA is offering the public two ways to play a small role in the last shuttle flights. Visitors to the “Face in Space” website can upload their portrait to fly with the astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery’s STS-133 mission. Almost 150,000 photos already have been submitted. The deadline for your image to fly on Discovery is 6 p.m. Nov. 1. NASA will continue to accept images to fly on shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 mission, which currently is scheduled for February 2011. To submit your image, visit: https://faceinspace.nasa.gov
NASA also is inviting the public to choose songs to wake up the astronauts during the upcoming shuttle missions. Visit the “Wakeup Song Contest” website to select songs from a list of the top 40 previous wakeup calls or to submit original tunes for consideration. More than 2.1 million votes have been cast for songs for STS-133. Voting will end when Discovery lifts off on Nov. 1. The deadline to submit original compositions for consideration as a wakeup song for STS-134 is Jan. 10. To submit a song or vote on a wakeup tune, visit:
For NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
