With mixed feelings, the shuttle Discovery crew and the NASA launch team on Friday wrapped up a dress rehearsal for the planned Nov. 1 liftoff on Discovery's last space voyage, an 11-day mission to delivery a storage pod and spare parts to the International Space Station.
Discovery, which will be making its 39th flight, has been NASA's fleet leader in terms of number of missions and also for making both return-to-flight test runs following the Challenger and Columbia accidents in 1986 and 2003, respectively. Now it's fleet leader into retirement, with sisterships Endeavour and Atlantis expected to make their swan songs in February and June 2011.
