美“发现”号航天飞机发射升空, 欧洲宇航防务集团

Release Date: 2009-08-29

Today, the space shuttle Discovery was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA). At 5:59 a.m. CEST (23:59 m. local time) Discovery (Mission STS-128) was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre and set course for the International Space Station (ISS). The shuttle carries three new experiment facilities which have been developed under the industrial leadership of Astrium, the European space company.

With the Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) and the Declic (fluid physics) facility, the ISS crew members will be able to further extend their scientific experiments and, in particular, investigate basic processes in the production of new alloys and semiconductors, as well as new methods for waste water treatment.

For the cold storage of scientific research, Discovery is also transporting a second Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer - called Melfi-2 - to the ISS. Melfi-1 has been on board the ISS since 2006. The facilities are accommodated in the mobile Leonardo logistics module (MPLM) and the astronauts will bring them on board the ISS on the fifth day of the mission.

Type:	NORMAL
Company:	欧洲宇航防务集团
Country:	德国