Less than a week before launch, technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida continue careful preparations on space shuttle Discovery for the STS-133 mission. Workers are close to wrapping up the installation and connection of ordnance on the shuttle stack and will begin closing out the solid rocket booster forward skirt tonight.

The STS-133 crew, commanded by veteran astronaut Steve Lindsey, will conduct its final ascent simulation at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston today and review procedures with digital cameras.?

Space Shuttle Program managers cleared space shuttle Discovery for launch Nov. 1 following an extensive review of the spacecraft and its payload.

Speaking to reporters after the executive-level Flight Readiness Review at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officials said Discovery is prepared for its mission, STS-133. That is the last scheduled flight for the agency's oldest active shuttle.

"We're in great shape out at the pad," Launch Director Mike Leinbach said.

The countdown is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Friday, about a day after the six astronauts of Discovery arrive at Kennedy. A set of seals was replaced over the weekend in extensive work that was completed before it could threaten the scheduled launch date.

"It's a huge testament to the team doing the work," said Mission Management Team Chairman Mike Moses.

STS-133 Flight Readiness Review Concluded

After a day-long flight readiness review (FRR) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA and contractor managers voted unanimously to set space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 launch date for Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. EDT.

A post-FRR news conference will be aired on NASA TV (www.nasa.gov/ntv) at 4 p.m. to discuss the meeting and preparations for Discovery's mission to the International Space Station.

Participants include Bill Gerstenmaier, assistant administrator for Space Operations, Mike Moses, Space Shuttle Program launch integration manager and Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director.

earlier related report

International Space Station to manoeuvre to dodge debris
Moscow (AFP) Oct 26, 2010 – The Russian mission control centre has decided to manoeuvre the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to avoid collision with space debris, Russian news agencies reported.

"A decision has been taken to correct the flight orbit of the ISS. The engines will be switched on at 1425 Moscow time (1025 GMT)," a spokesman for the mission control centre outside Moscow told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The space station would take 180 seconds to manoeuvre to an orbit around 500 metres higher than its current one, the spokesman told the agency.

The mission control centre said earlier that the fragment of space debris of unknown origin was extremely unlikely to collide with the ISS, with experts calculating around a 0.001 percent chance of a direct hit.

The last time that the ISS passed close to space debris was in July, when it passed fragments of a Chinese weather satellite around eight kilometres (five miles) away.

The crew on board, three NASA astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts, were not to take part in the manoeuvre.

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