Discovery cleared for launch next week

Washington: US space shuttle Discovery was cleared for launch on December 7 after a two-day flight review by space agency NASA.

Discovery is expected to take off at 9.35 pm (0235 GMT) in the first night time launch since the Columbia shuttle disaster in February 2003.

"We feel really good about (December 7) as a launch date," launch director Mike Leinbach said at a news conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida Wednesday.

The seven-member Discovery crew is headed to the International Space Station (ISS) for a crucial mission to hook up the station's permanent electricity generating system, after a September mission transported and positioned two solar truss arrays necessary.

NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, Bill Gerstenmeier said that the mission was "probably one of the most complex assembly flights we have done to date".

The space agency said the launch window for Discovery would last until December 17.

The shuttle will also pick up German astronaut Thomas Reiter, who has been at the ISS for almost six months.