Space
shuttle Discovery astronauts entered the homestretch of their busy
flight to the International Space Station Sunday and are packing up for their trip
home later this week.
The
shuttle's seven-astronaut crew planned to finish loading a portable cargo module with
tons of trash and unneeded station equipment for the trip back to Earth. The astronauts launched
into orbit Aug. 28 and wrapped up the last of three spacewalks to upgrade
the space station late Saturday.
"We're
coming into the homestretch," space station flight director Heather Rarick told
reporters early Sunday.
There are
13 astronauts - a record-tying number - aboard the linked shuttle and station.
In addition to Discovery's
seven astronauts, there are six spaceflyers on the station: two Americans,
two Russians and one astronaut each from Canada and Belgium.
One tricky
task on the astronauts' to-do list Sunday is a robotic arm maneuver to prepare
the station for the arrival of Japan's first unmanned cargo ship later this
month. The station's Canadian-built Canadarm2 robotic arm has a grapple device
at each end that allows it to move end-over-end like an inchworm to reach different
parts of the station.
Japan's
new cargo ship is designed to be grabbed by the station's arm when it arrives
at the outpost, but one of the robotic appendage's grapple devices is a bit
sticky, Rarick said. Astronauts planned to perform a so-called "triple
walk-off" to move the arm several times so that
its non-sticky grapple end is outstretched to await the Japanese space freighter,
she added.
Discovery's
crew delivered just over 18,500 pounds (8,391 kg) of cargo to the space
station, including fresh supplies, new science equipment and a space treadmill
named after television comedian
Stephen Colbert. The astronauts will be returning more than 5,000 pounds (2,267
kg) of unneeded items to Earth when they leave the station, NASA
officials have said.
The shuttle
also ferried NASA astronaut Nicole Stott to the station to begin a three-month
space mission. She replaced fellow spaceflyer Tim Kopra as a member of the
station's crew. Kopra has lived aboard the station for nearly two months and
will return home aboard Discovery.
Kopra told
reporters Sunday that he's going to miss the space station, but is ready to
come home. Discovery is due to undock from the space station on Tuesday and land in Florida Thursday evening.
"I'm very
much looking forward to seeing my family and getting back to life in general on
the planet," Kopra said in a televised interview.
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.
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