WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

The Space Shuttle Discovery, atop a mobile launch platform, is rolled toward Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, l989. It rolled through the doors of the huge vehicle assembly building (VAB) at 6 a.m. The trip to the pad takes approximately 5 and 1/2 hours. Onboard the spacecraft in mid-March for a five-day mission, on which will be deployed a third tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS-D), will be Astronauts Michael L. Coats, John E. Blaha, James F. Buchli, James P. Bagian and Robert C. Springer.