"Everything is on track and going beautifully with the countdown," said mission management team director Mike Moses. "We're really looking forward to a very action-packed, successful mission and everything is on track."

When the historic flight ends, Discovery will become the first space shuttle to enter retirement as the US program winds down after 30 years, leaving a major gap in American space flight.

Discovery was initially scheduled for launch to the orbiting International Space Station in November 2010 but cracks emerged on the external fuel tank just ahead of the launch, postponing the mission until now.

Shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach said the teams preparing Discovery had found "no problems at all" this time as they count down towards lift-off at 4:50 pm (2150 GMT) Thursday from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

"We're not tracking any issues and it looks like Discovery will fly this time," said Leinbach.

The rotating service structure around Discovery was to be rolled away on Wednesday evening, revealing the shuttle on the launch-pad for the first time, and the loading of the external fuel tank was to begin early Thursday morning.

The weather forecast was considered exceptionally good with only a 20 percent chance of delay, NASA said.

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