English: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Sitting on top of the mobile launcher platform, space shuttle Discovery straddles the flame trench, which channels the flames and smoke exhaust of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters away from the space shuttle during liftoff, on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Traveling from the Vehicle Assembly Building, the shuttle took nearly 12 hours on the journey as technicians stopped several times to clear mud from the crawler's treads and bearings caused by the waterlogged crawlerway. First motion out of the VAB was at 2:07 a.m. EDT Aug. 4. Rollout was delayed approximately 2 hours due to lightning in the area. Discovery was secured, or "hard down" to Launch Pad 39A at 1:50 p.m. EDT. "Hard down" means that the mobile launcher platform, or MLP, is sitting on the pedestals on the pad, and the crawler has been jacked down, thus transferring the weight of the MLP from the crawler to the pad pedestals. Discovery's 13-day flight will deliver a new crew member and 33,000 pounds of equipment to the International Space Station. The equipment includes science and storage racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill. Launch of Discovery on its STS-128 mission is targeted for late August.