STS-120: Landing Wednesday

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.