WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

STS-103 Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr. is suited up and ready to go for the second launch attempt of Space Shuttle Discovery. The previous launch attempt on Dec. 17 was scrubbed about 8:52 p.m. due to numerous violations of weather launch commit criteria at KSC. Brown and fellow crew members Pilot Scott J. Kelly and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), Claude Nicollier of Switzerland and Jean-Francois Clervoy of France are scheduled to lift off at 7:50 p.m. EST Dec. 19 on mission STS-103, servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. Objectives for the nearly eight-day mission include replacing gyroscopes and an old computer, installing another solid state recorder, and replacing damaged insulation in the telescope. Discovery is expected to land at KSC Monday, Dec. 27, at about 5:24 p.m. EST.