take a look at those pictures inside the space shuttle discovery. live pictures from nasa tv. it s expected to blast off at 4:50 p.m. eastern from florida s kennedy space station. on board five men, one woman, and the first robotic-like astronaut. they will deliver a storage module, science rig and spare parts to the international space station during the 11-day mission. it was first launched back in 1984, discovery has completed more than 30 missions making it the most experienced space shuttle. the hubble space telescope was transported in 1990 and glenn went back in space in 1998 and he was the first u.s. citizen to orbit citizen and he was the oldest to fly in space at the age of 77. discovery took the colbert treadmill to space in 2009. that s steven colbert am.
equipment. a treadmill, the colbert treadmill will be put in there. they are also bringing up the kupela that has six windows. it is a window to the earth. they can look at the earth from there and they can direct remote vehicle that is are going to be docking, cargo carriers docking with the station. they ll be able to maneuver those in for the docking procedures from that area. so the last two major components, when they are done with this mission, the international space station will be 90% complete. and then everyone hope that is the major science that s been promised for so long, don, will finally begin to take place. don? all right. cnn s john zarella, thank you so much. we really appreciate it. you can see the shuttle launch live on cnn early tomorrow morning. our coverage starts at 4:30 a.m. eastern. 4:30 a.m. eastern and liftoff is spoezed to be nine minutes later at 4:39. if you are awake, join our morning team. we ll cover it for you.
program. as you mentioned, just five left this year. the last one scheduled to lift off from here in september. now, the endeavour is on the launch pad tonight getting ready for the 13-day mission to the international space station. the astronauts will be getting up and getting ready for the final weather briefing and making the preps to come out here to the pad at about 1:30 in the morning. when they get to the international space station, they will be carrying up with them the final two major components of the station. one is called the tranquility module, which is literally a habitat facility for life support and crew support equipment. a treadmill, the colbert treadmill will be put in there. they are also bringing up the kupela that has six windows. it is a window to the earth. they can look at the earth from there and they can direct remote vehicles that are going to be