Tim Kopra prepares for space missions. Kopra, who retired Sunday from the Army, was a colonel with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command. He is scheduled to launch on his final space mission on STS-133 at 3:52 ...

When the last launch of space shuttle Discovery takes place later this week, the Army will have yet another connection to the current presence on the International Space Station.

Former Col. Tim Kopra, a recently retired U.S. Army astronaut with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT), will lift off with Discovery's 39th and final mission, currently scheduled for Wednesday at 3:52 p.m. EDT.

Kopra will join Army Col. Doug Wheelock, who is the current ISS commander, on the station. This will be Kopra's second flight; he launched with STS-127 in July 2009 and spent almost two months aboard the space station with the Expedition 20 crew as a flight engineer. Kopra returned in September 2009 aboard STS-128. During the two shuttle missions and tour of duty aboard the station, Kopra completed one space-walk lasting just over 5 hours.

Kopra is a 1985 graduate of West Point and a native of Austin, Texas. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in July 2000.

Kopra retired from the Army only days before the upcoming launch, on Sunday, Oct. 31. On Sunday, Kopra was honored in a retirement celebration of the most unusual fashion. Because astronauts are quarantined before a launch, he was unable to physically attend. However, his wife Dawn announced that he still wanted to do it then since many of his friends and family would be gathered for the launch.

Though Kopra was present primarily through phone conversation, he was also present in the family's sense of humor, as his son Matt, age 13, carried out a cardboard cutout of him in his Army uniform as part of the "official party."

Dawn served as the emcee for the event, showing a slideshow of Tim's career with the Army and NASA as well as her participation as an Army wife. Despite her notes about "the Army wife's survival training," which included fixing home appliances, taking both children to their extra-curricular activities, and evacuating the household during hurricanes, it was very obvious she enjoys being a member of the Army family.

"The Army has been very good to us," she said, "and we have both been honored to serve."

Through a telephone connection, Kopra echoed her thoughts, highlighting the strength of relationships and how he did not think it would be a career for him.

"As a cadet at West Point, I didn't have the idea this would be a life-long career ... I didn't know how personally and professionally rewarding it could be," he said. "The relationships with people I have worked with have made it that way, the bond of service...I'm so grateful. It's been an uncoventional one, but I have had a great Army career."

The launch, originally scheduled for Nov. 1, was delayed twice due to minor leaks in the Orbital Manuevering System pod. Experts say the shuttle should be ready for launch by the current scheduled date of Nov. 3.