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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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Space Shuttle Discovery Makes a Date

With concerns over Soyuz safety allayed, voyage to ISS is a go

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(Newser) – The investigation into last month's scary landing by a Russian Soyuz spacecraft is still going on, but another Soyuz at the International Space Station is off the hook, so NASA has cleared the Discovery shuttle for launch on May 31, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The shuttle is expected to attach a huge Japanese lab to the ISS.

"If we had to use (Soyuz), we think there is a good chance it will return the crew and do what it needs to do as a parachute or backup system," a NASA official told the Houston Chronicle.

Ground crew walk around the Soyuz landing capsule after it landed in northern Kazakhstan, April 19, 2008, several hundred kilometers off-target, Russian space officials said.
Ground crew walk around the Soyuz landing capsule after it landed in northern Kazakhstan, April 19, 2008, several hundred kilometers off-target, Russian space officials said.   (AP Photo/Shamil Zhumatov, Pool)
The crew of Discovery leaves the Operations and Checkout building during a dress rehearsal for the STS-124 mission to the International Space station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, May 9.
The crew of Discovery leaves the Operations and Checkout building during a dress rehearsal for the STS-124 mission to the International Space station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, May 9.   (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Discovery mission specialists Akihiko Hoshide, right, and Gregory Chamitoff arrive for a press conference on the pad at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Discovery mission specialists Akihiko Hoshide, right, and Gregory Chamitoff arrive for a press conference on the pad at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.   (AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove)
Space shuttle Discovery sits on pad 39A after being transported from the Vehicle Assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, May 3, 2008.
Space shuttle Discovery sits on pad 39A after being transported from the Vehicle Assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, May 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Akihiko Hoshide, a crew member on space shuttle Discovery, waves during a dress rehearsal for the STS-124 mission to the international space station, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., May 9, 2008.
Akihiko Hoshide, a crew member on space shuttle Discovery, waves during a dress rehearsal for the STS-124 mission to the international space station, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., May 9, 2008.   (AP Photo/John Raoux)
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