STS-119/Discovery
Target Launch Date: Feb. 12, 2009
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899
Phone: 321.867.5000
Email: Public Inquiries
Oct. 1 marks the 50th Anniversary of NASA, as it was on this date in 1958 that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration began operations.
On launch day, a space shuttle astronaut's first challenge isn't handling the force of liftoff or adjusting to microgravity -- it's getting dressed.
The astronauts of STS-126 acted as craftsmen, mechanics, spacewalkers and, of course, astronauts during International Space Station mission.
When a shuttle lands anywhere but Kennedy Space Center, it gets a piggyback ride back to its home base.