Astronauts Pack Up Space Shuttle For Trip Home

Astronauts at the International Space Station closed up a portable cargo pod Monday and prepared to pack it aboard the visiting shuttle Discovery for the trip home this week.

Shuttle commander Rick Sturckow and his crew sealed the entry hatch to the cargo module - essentially a moving van in space - and plan to return it to Discovery?s payload bay tonight using the station?s robotic arm.

The astronauts delivered more than 8 tons of cargo to the station from the Italian-built supply module and Discovery over the last week. Before closing it Monday, they filled it with 2 tons of trash and other unneeded gear to be returned to Earth.

?All in all, it?s been a very successful mission,? shuttle astronaut Danny Olivas said Sunday in a televised interview. ?I think everybody here is in good spirits and we are ready to finish up and come home.?

Discovery and its seven-astronaut crew are due to undock from the space station Tuesday after just more than a week at the orbiting laboratory. Skywatchers in North America have multiple chances to spot the shuttle and station from Earth through Wednesday.

Packing up in space

The shuttle launched Aug. 28 on a 13-day mission to deliver vital supplies, science experiment gear and a new crewmember - NASA astronaut Nicole Stott - to the orbiting laboratory. Three spacewalks were performed to replace a large coolant tank and upgrade station systems during the shuttle?s stay.

The astronauts plan to pluck the cargo module, called Leonardo, free of the space station at about 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT) to stow it to Discovery?s payload bay. At about 10:30 p.m. EDT( 0230 Sept. 8 GMT), all 13 astronauts aboard the linked shuttle and station will hold a farewell ceremony before shutting the hatches between their spacecraft in preparation for tomorrow?s undocking.

Discovery?s astronauts also delivered a $5 million treadmill named after TV comedian Stephen Colbert during the mission. Colbert won an online poll earlier this year to have a new space station room named after him thanks to the help of fans of his Comedy Central show ?The Colbert Report.?

NASA, however, opted to name the new module Tranquility - after the Apollo 11 moon base - to honor the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing in July 1969. As a consolation prize, the space agency named the new station treadmill the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT.

The treadmill arrived in more than 100 pieces and will be assembled by Stott and her crewmates in late September after the arrival of a Japanese cargo ship at the station.

Stott is beginning a three-month mission to the station as a member of the outpost?s six-person crew. She replaced fellow astronaut Tim Kopra, who will return home on Discovery to wrap up his own two-month flight in space.

While Stott is ready to work in space, she?s also hoping to spend time gazing at the Earth and experimenting with painting during her free time.

?I?m going to try some different things with watercolors and painting, and try and paint some of the things that I see,? Stott said Monday in a televised interview. ??I don?t know if it will be all that good, but it will certainly be fun for me to try.?

Discovery is scheduled to land at NASA?s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday.

• Easy to Spot: Space Station and Shuttle Together
• Video - Stephen Colbert to NASA: 'No Chubby Astronauts'
• New Image Gallery - Shuttle Discovery's Midnight Launch

SPACE.com is providing complete coverage of Discovery's STS-128 mission to the International Space Station with Managing Editor Tariq Malik and Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in New York. Click here for shuttle mission updates and a link to NASA TV.