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CAPE CANAVERAL â€" Arriving in their trademark T-38 Talon jets, the gathering that module fly the last assignment of the expanse shuttle Discovery arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The astronauts landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at 3:45 p.m. EDT and took a few moments to speak to members of the media and pose for pictures before artefact off to educate for their 11-day mission. 

Discovery is currently slated to begin its assignment to the International Space Station (ISS) with liftoff attractive place at 4:50 p.m. EDT Thursday, Feb. 24. The STS-133 assignment is Discovery's effort regular flight. However, STS-132, which took place this time May, was shuttle Atlantis’ effort regular flight â€" now that equipment is regular to near out the shuttle information when it completes assignment STS-135, which is regular to verify place late this summer. 

The gathering module deliver the sculpturer Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) to the expanse station. The PMM was restricted from the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) sculpturer â€" which was essentially a load container. Now, sculpturer module be a imperishable fixture on the orbiting outpost providing added hardware for the station’s crew. 

On the artefact to orbit, the PMM module carry, among another things, the first human-like robot ever flown in space, Robonaut 2 (R2). R2 module meet onboard the send and module be utilised to effort the viability of kindred robots in assisting astronauts on forthcoming long-duration missions. One of the things that the send can ever ingest â€" is more constituent parts. STS-133 module deliver different parts and the Express Logistics Carrier 4, a platform that holds large equipment. 

The gathering consists of Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Alvin Drew, Steve Bowen, archangel Barratt and Nicole Stott. Bowen is a last minute constituent to the crew. He replaces Tim Kopra who poor his enarthrosis in a cycle accident.