The countdown continues to the launch of the last mission of the shuttle Discovery tonight

NASA reports strong demand for tickets to watch the launch of Discovery and Andover in a few months - the two most recent launches of the shuttle program

The space shuttle Discovery is moving towards launch tonight, Thursday, at 23:50 Israel time, when the technicians are making the final touches to the spacecraft and the launch team is running the entire checklist for launch.
A small problem arose when a regulator in the reaction control system developed a slight leak, test manager Steve Payne said. "In this case, it is something we have already seen before" said Payne who added that this system has high redundancy and the leak is very small, repairs will be made but they will not have an impact on the continuation of the countdown.

This is Discovery's last flight and as the shuttle program nears its end, Payne says the queue of people wanting to watch the latest launches is growing. "People are starting to realize that either they will see a launch now or they won't be able to see a shuttle launch." added
During the last mission, the team members will drop important spare parts with them on the cargo deck to the International Space Station using the fast logistics carrier number 4. Crew members are also expected to change when Tim Cooper, who was injured in a bicycle accident on January 15, will be replaced by Steve Bowen. Bowen flew on the shuttle Atlantis in May 2010 as part of the STS-132 mission. A flight on STS-133 would make Bowen the first astronaut ever to fly on two consecutive missions.
An extraordinary passenger will also be launched - The robot R2, a prototype of humanoid robots designed to replace the astronauts in boring or dangerous missions.