ISS Fan Club

HOUSTON - The International Space Station (ISS) is about to get bigger.

Seven astronauts are gearing up to launch aboard NASA's space shuttle Discovery to deliver the station's largest room: the Japanese Kibo laboratory. The 13-day mission is set to rocket spaceward with the tour bus-sized lab from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 31.

Discovery's mission was pushed back several days due to delays modifying its external fuel tank with post-Columbia accident improvements. The following shuttle flight - NASA's planned Aug. 28 mission aboard Atlantis to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope - has also been delayed up to five weeks due to similar fuel tank challenges, said space shuttle program manager John Shannon. It will likely launch sometime in late September 2008, he said.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080501-sts124-mission-preview.html