NASA has scheduled the Space Shuttle Discovery as the first space shuttle to return to flight since the Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. The 12-day mission has been moved to a July 13th to 31st launch window. It was scheduled for launch on May 22, with the launch window extending to June 3rd. Engineers are concerned with potential debris hazards and want to make some additional modifications to the external tank. Ice forming on the outside of the external tank (that holds liquid oxygen at a temperature well below the freezing point of water) may cause damage to the orbiter as it falls off during the launch.
Mission STS-114 will be the 114th space shuttle flight, and the 31st flight of Discovery. The Payload Transportation Canister contains an ESP-2 pallet. The International Space Station’s LMC unit (Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier) is next. It contains an attitude-control gyroscope to replace an inoperable unit at the space station and the new orbiter repair test kit. Raffaello, an Italian-built cargo carrier loaded with supplies for the space station, will be added to the canister last.

The seven-person crew consists of Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot James Kelly, and Mission Specialists Charles Camarda, Wendy Lawrence, Soichi Noguchi, Steve Robinson, and Andy Thomas.