Photo by Jen Scheer

Space shuttle Discovery rolled out of its hangar into the Vehicle Assembly Building last week, ready to be attached to its fuel tank and rocket boosters.  It is scheduled for a November 1st mission to the International Space Station. After that, the final shuttle mission on the schedule is a February trip for Endeavor.  But NASA has proposed that the Atlantis crew training for an emergency rescue of Endeavor’s crew take on an actual additional mission.  The fuel tank and boosters that are being prepped for a hopefully unneeded situation can then be put to use and more supplies can be brought up to the ISS. The rescue plan for that proposed mission would be to house the 4 person crew on the space station until they can return on a Soyuz craft. But Congress and NASA need to determine if they can fund one more final mission.