Discovery ready for early morning launch

The space shuttle Discovery remains on track for a planned launch early Tuesday morning, though the possibility of thunderstorms in Florida could delay fuelling Monday afternoon.

Discovery is scheduled to launch at 1:36 a.m. ET Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a 13-day flight to the International Space Station.

NASA said there is an 80 per cent chance of favourable weather at launch time, but they are less confident about the potential for storms in the afternoon, when the space agency is expected to begin filling Discovery's external fuel tank. The fuelling is expected to begin at 4:11 p.m. ET Monday.

Discovery's seven-person crew will deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station during the mission.

U.S. commander Rick Sturckow heads the crew of seven astronauts who will deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station during the mission. Also scheduled to fly to the station are pilot Kevin Ford, mission specialists Patrick Forrester, Danny Olivas, Jose Hernandez and Nicolle Stott, all from the United States, and mission specialist Crister Fuglesang from Sweden.

Olivas will perform three spacewalks on the mission, one with Stott and two with Fuglesang.

Stott will also join Canadian Robert Thirsk and the other four members of the space station crew, replacing American Tim Kopra, who is scheduled to return to Earth with the rest of Discovery's crew.

Discovery and seven astronauts will deliver almost 8,000 kilograms of space station supplies and equipment.

Included in the equipment making the trip into orbit is a treadmill named for comedian Stephen Colbert.

Earlier in the year, Colbert encouraged viewers of his program The Colbert Report to vote in an online contest to name a future space station room after him. Colbert won the contest but NASA instead chose to name the piece of exercise equipment after him.