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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. --  Crew members for space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission don their launch and entry suits before heading to Launch Pad 39A. Mission Specialist Gregory Chamitoff puts on his helmet to check communications. Chamitoff will join the Expedition 17 crew on the International Space Station as a flight engineer, taking the place of astronaut Garrett Reisman, who will return to Earth on Discovery.  The STS-124 mission is the second of three flights launching components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory.  The shuttle crew will install Kibo's large Japanese Pressurized Module and its remote manipulator system, or RMS.  The 14-day flight includes three spacewalks.  Launch is scheduled for 5:02 p.m. May 31. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-08pd1512

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Crew members for space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission don their launch and entry suits before heading to Launch Pad 39A. Mission Specialist Gregory Chamitoff puts on his helmet to check communications. Chamitoff will join the Expedition 17 crew on the International Space Station as a flight engineer, taking the place of astronaut Garrett Reisman, who will return to Earth on Discovery. The STS-124 mission is the second of three flights launching components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. The shuttle crew will install Kibo's large Japanese Pressurized Module and its remote manipulator system, or RMS. The 14-day flight includes three spacewalks. Launch is scheduled for 5:02 p.m. May 31. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-08pd1512

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Crew members for space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission don their launch and entry suits before heading to Launch Pad 39A. Mission Specialist Gregory Chamitoff puts on his helmet to check communications. Chamitoff will join the Expedition 17 crew on the International Space Station as a flight engineer, taking the place of astronaut Garrett Reisman, who will return to Earth on Discovery. The STS-124 mission is the second of three flights launching components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. The shuttle crew will install Kibo's large Japanese Pressurized Module and its remote manipulator system, or RMS. The 14-day flight includes three spacewalks. Launch is scheduled for 5:02 p.m. May 31. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.

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31/05/2008
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Location

Cape Canaveral, FL
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Source

NASA
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Public Domain Dedication (CC0)

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