Space shuttle Discovery is ready for launch at its scheduled date and time, according to NASA officials. Discovery is scheduled to liftoff at 3:51 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 13th for a 13-day mission to the International Space Station to deliver critical supplies.

According to NASA reports, the software and hardware of the space shuttle are currently working perfectly well without any technical difficulties. NASA has already started removing the installation and base equipment from Discovery in order to get it ready for the launch. The team of seven astronauts is in quarantine to ensure that none of the crewmembers get sick at the last moment. "All of the work goes extremely well," said Jeff Spaulding, Test Director, NASA. He also added, "From my perspective a boring countdown is a good countdown."

Although everything else is going as planned, the concerning factor of the moment is the unsure whether conditions. Meteorologists said that the chance of Discovery actually taking off on time is about 60 percent, down 10 percent from an earlier analysis when they quoted 70 percent. If Discovery doesn’t liftoff on its scheduled date, officials will have two tries in the next three days to make the launch. After the initial launch period, NASA would have to delay the launch for a minimum of three days for standard shuttle maintenance.

Kathy Winters, Shuttle Weather Officer, NASA also said that the main problem after the launch could be the afternoon seabreeze, which would prevent midday thunderstorms from reaching the 20-mile free zone that are needed in case Discovery has to make an emergency landing back to the space station. Winters said they are expecting some showers and thunderstorms around 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

Engineers would get nine minutes after the liftoff to decide the outcome of Discovery – continue or abort the mission.

NASA said even though there are risks involved in space flights, the organization has taken every possible safety precaution to make the flight as safe as possible. The space group further added that engineers had a "spirited" discussion earlier this week about the readiness of the space shuttle.

One of the many safety precautions includes the decision to make the liftoff during daylight. According to NASA officials, this would allow them to monitor the space shuttle from all directions via an imaging device. NASA also commented that it will not launch Discovery unless there’s at least one emergency landing site in Europe with clear weather.