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Photo Gallery: Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

September 10, 2010 — Space shuttle Discovery was mated early Friday with the external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters that will launch it on its final flight into space.

Now inside the expansive confines of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida following a move from its processing hangar on Thursday morning, Discovery was fitted with a metal sling and hoisted by crane from the transfer aisle to the high reaches of the 52-story building before being lowered into place beside the orange-brown tank and two white boosters.

Workers will secure the orbiter and its flight components prior to rolling out the full stack to Pad 39A beginning on the evening of Sept. 20. Discovery is scheduled to liftoff to the International Space Station on its final mission, STS-133, on Nov. 1.

Photo credit: collectSPACE/Robert Z. Pearlman
  

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank   Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank   Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank   Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank   Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank   Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank   Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Shuttle Discovery mated with its final boosters and tank

Earlier: Space shuttle Discovery departs hangar for final flight

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