News From Space!

Discovery is set to come home tomorrow afternoon (Nov 7) after a long, but successful, mission to the ISS. The orbiter’s landing track will take Discovery over the US for the first time since Columbia disintegrated over the American South. NASA reports:

Discovery Ready for Landing Wednesday

Image Above: The STS-120 crew members aboard Discovery take a break from landing preparations on Tuesday to talk to reporters. Image credit: NASA TV

The seven astronauts on board space shuttle Discovery completed final preparations Tuesday for their return home with landing planned for the first of two opportunities to the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 1:02 p.m. EST Wednesday.

In preparation for the return home, the crew tested flight control systems and thruster jets, stowed equipment and installed a special reclining seat for Clay Anderson, who is returning after more than five months on board the International Space Station. Later, the crew oversaw an orbit adjust maneuver to optimize landing opportunities with weather forecasts indicating favorable conditions for Wednesday’s landing.

Wednesday morning, Entry Team Flight Director Bryan Lunney and his team will oversee Discovery’s reentry and landing with the deorbit burn set for 11:59 a.m. The 1 minute, 58 second burn will slow Discovery by 148 miles per hour (217 feet per second) for the reentry across the heartland of the United States traveling from the northwest to southeast.

A second landing opportunity also is available about 90 minutes later. Lunney will consider Florida only for Wednesday’s landing attempts with plenty of consumables on board to stay in space through Saturday, if necessary.

Mission Information
+ STS-120 Mission Overview
+ Harmony Node 2
+ Space Shuttle Discovery

Media Resources
+ Landing Ground Tracks
+ Mission TV Schedule
+ Press Kit (9.1 Mb PDF)
+ Fact Sheet (2 Mb PDF)

Landing Control Center:
+ Landing Blog
+ Landing 101

Discussion here. Status Report #30 here. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.

Tuesday will see the Shuttle crew, now minus Dan Tani but including Clay Anderson, prepare for landing, scheduled for tomorrow at KSC. NASA reports:

Discovery Undocks From Space Station, Set to Land Wednesday

Image Above: The space shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station after undocking. Image credit: NASA TV

The crew will spend today preparing for landing. Discovery’s first landing opportunity is at 1:02 p.m. EST Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Weather forecasters predict favorable landing conditions once a cold front passes through late Tuesday night. The backup landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and White Sands Space Harbor, N.M., will not be considered Wednesday.

+ View landing ground tracks

Space shuttle Discovery’s crew left the International Space Station Monday morning after almost 11 days of joint operations with the Expedition 16 crew. The shuttle undocked from the station at 5:32 a.m. as they flew over the South Pacific.

STS-120 Pilot George Zamka backed the orbiter about 400 feet from the station and performed a fly-around to allow crew members to collect video and imagery of the station in its new configuration. He completed the final separation engine burn at 7:15 a.m.

The shuttle crew members used the shuttle robot arm and the 50-foot long Orbiter Boom Sensor System to conduct a late inspection of the thermal protection system.

During its stay at the station, which began Oct. 25, the STS-120 crew continued the on-orbit construction of the station with the installation of the Harmony Node 2 module and the relocation of the P6 truss.

The crew installed Harmony Oct. 26 and did four spacewalks at the station. During the third spacewalk, the crew installed the P6 truss and solar array pair in its permanent location outboard of the port truss. The fourth spacewalk was changed during the mission so that the crew could repair a torn solar array on the P6 truss. Following the successful repair work, the crew was able to fully deploy the solar array.

Discovery also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Daniel Tani. He replaced astronaut Clayton Anderson. Anderson arrived at the station in June with STS-117.

Flight Day 14 pics and video are up at the JSC Gallery. Discussion here. Status Report #29 here. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.