STS-120: Flight Day 16
By TonyF on 7 November 2007 at 11:00AM
Discovery should be landing today shortly after 1PM EST, at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Weather is looking good. NASA reports:
Image Above: The path for space shuttle Discovery's first landing opportunity takes it over the heartland of the United States. Image credit: NASA
Space shuttle Discovery is ready to return home with landing planned for the first of two opportunities to the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 1:01 p.m. EST today. The seven astronauts on board the shuttle completed final preparations Tuesday.
Landing preparations included testing flight control systems and thruster jets, stowing equipment and installing 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.
This morning, Entry Team Flight Director Bryan Lunney and his team are overseeing 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 today’s landing attempts with plenty of consumables on board to stay in space through Saturday, if necessary.
Flight Day 15 videos are up at the JSC Gallery. Discussion here. Status Report #31 here. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV. Live video at CFNews13 and Florida Today.
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