CAPE CANVERAL - After spending more than two
weeks in space, seven astronauts on board the space shuttle Discovery are
making final preparations to return home tomorrow.
Before
their Wednesday arrival here at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), however, the crew
will check flight control systems, test engines and stow gear floating around
the cabin.
"It's
mainly a day dedicated to preparations for deorbit and entry," said Rick
LaBrode, lead shuttle
flight director, of today's activities.
The STS-120 mission
launched Oct. 23 and hauled a bus-sized module to the International Space
Station (ISS), which the crew said goodbye to Sunday and undocked
from on Monday morning. LaBrode said computer problems on Discovery made for
some tricky navigation for its pilot George Zamka, but noted that he and the
rest of the crew persevered.
"He
did an exceptionally good job," LaBrode said of Zamka's 360-degree
fly-around of the space station yesterday. "It was pretty
phenomenal."
NASA's
space station construction mission also left behind astronaut Dan Tani,
swapping his place with ISS crewmember Clay Anderson.
"About
five months ago I was lying on back mid deck of the orbiter Atlantis and
wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into," Anderson said during
Sunday's tearful
goodbye ceremony at the orbital laboratory. "Now I'm poised to return
to Earth."
Final
preparations
Today's pre-landing
activities include interviews with SPACE.com and other members of the
press that will air live at 9:43 a.m. EST (1443 GMT), as well the set up a
special recumbent seat for Anderson. The seat will ease Anderson--who has spent
152 days in space--back into Earth's gravitational pull by laying him on his
back.
Discovery's
crew will also test the spacecraft's on-orbit engines that blast
course-correcting and deorbiting propellant.
In addition
to the engine tests, LaBrode noted astronauts will test the spacecraft's
sensitive flight control systems before the crews fire an orbit-adjusting burn
around 2:54 p.m. EST (1954 GMT) and get a good night's rest at 6:38 p.m. EST
(2338 GMT).
NASA
engineers are also slated to deliver inspection results today of Discovery's
heat-resistant wing leading edges today, which mission managers said yesterday
should pose any problems.
"There
[are] no concerns expected at all," LaBrode said of the reinforced carbon
shielding analysis.
These zones
of heat-resistant tiles bear the brunt of reentry to Earth, converting most of
Discovery's 17,500 mph (21,160 kph) of speed into hot plasma--and heating the thermal
shielding to as much as 2,300 degrees F (1,260 C).
Eventful
mission
The STS-120 mission brought a 15.75-ton, bus-sized room to the space station
and relocated a massive solar array truss segment. Deployment snagged and tore
of one of the solar power tower's blankets on Oct. 30, however, pulling the
crew together to effect an
unprecedented repair of the solar wing.
"It's
been an incredible mission and one that I will reflect ... on favorably for the
rest of my career," LaBrode said of his directing role.
Discovery
will make a daylight descent from the northwestern U.S. to Florida on Nov. 7,
crossing over the "heartland of America," mission managers have said.
This descent path has not been attempted since the loss of the crew of Columbia in 2003.
The spacecraft
is scheduled to fire a speed-dropping deorbit burn at 12:03 p.m.
EST (1703 GMT) for a 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT) landing, weather permitting. Successful
touch down of will be followed by news and astronaut crew conferences about
two hours and 6.5 hours aftwerward, respectively.
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