"And Houston, Discovery. For the final time, wheelstop."
made her this morning, her final mission to the International Space Station. occurred right on time, just before noon EST (1657 UT). Sadly, her - after accruing - will be a museum. reports:
Image above: Space shuttle Discovery touches down at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 9, to end the STS-133 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
At 11:57 a.m. EST, Space shuttle Discovery landed for the final time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after 202 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,304,140 miles on STS-133. Discovery’s main gear touched down at 11:57:17 a.m. followed by the nose gear at 11:57:28 and wheels stop at 11:58:14 a.m. At wheels stop, the mission elapsed time was 12 days, 19 hours, four minutes and 50 seconds. STS-133 was the 39th and final flight for Discovery, which spent 365 days in space, orbited Earth 5,830 times and traveled 148,221,675 miles.
Image above: The crew of space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 mission, the final flight for NASA's oldest active shuttle. The astronauts are, from left, Mission Specialists Nicole Stott and Michael Barratt, Pilot Eric Boe, Commander Steve Lindsey and Mission Specialists Alvin Drew and Steve Bowen. Image credit: NASA TV
During space shuttle Discovery's final spaceflight, the STS-133 crew members delivered important spare parts to the International Space Station along with the Express Logistics Carrier-4.
Steve Bowen replaced Tim Kopra as Mission Specialist 2 following a bicycle injury on Jan. 15 that prohibited Kopra from supporting the launch window. Bowen last flew on Atlantis in May 2010 as part of the STS-132 crew. Flying on the STS-133 mission makes Bowen the first astronaut ever to fly on consecutive missions.
Official Landing Times
Main gear touchdown: 11:57:17 a.m. EST
Nose gear touchdown: 11:57:28 a.m. EST
Wheels stop: 11:58:14 a.m. EST
Total miles: more than 5.3 million
Additional STS-133 Resources
Live HD coverage at . Live video at and . Discussion at . Landing blog at . Pics and video at . More at . Check the links at right for -by- and NASA TV. Follow us on !
will see the for Shuttle (barring any weather-related wave-offs). conditions at KSC are looking good, with winds being the only concern. for today's landing attempts. Touchdown is scheduled for (1657 UT). reports:
After flying a flawless mission in space, space shuttle Discovery and its six astronauts are getting ready for their return to Earth. Landing is scheduled for 11:57 a.m. EST at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Landing Day Highlights (All times EST)
6:53 a.m.
Deorbit Prep begins
8:12 a.m.
Payload Bay Doors Closing
8:22 a.m.
Mission Control: “Go” for Ops 3 Transition
9:29 a.m.
Clothing Configuration
9:52 a.m.
Seat Ingress
10:19 a.m.
OMS Gimbal Check
10:30 a.m.
Auxiliary Power Unit Prestart
10:42 a.m.
MCC “Go-No Go” Decision for the Deorbit Burn
10:47 a.m.
Maneuver to the Deorbit Burn Attitude
10:52 a.m.
Deorbit Burn
11:44 a.m.
Merritt Island, Fla., tracking station Acquisition of Signal from Discovery
11:57 a.m.
Landing at Kennedy Space Center
Additional STS-133 Resources
Live HD coverage at . Live video at and . Discussion at . Landing blog at . Pics and video at . More at . Check the links at right for -by- and NASA TV. Follow us on !
MT : More coverage of Canada's 50 years in space: 2012/10/10
Lunar Photo Of The Day 10Oct2012: Paradise From Paris 2012/10/10
More on the Collier Trophy: 2012/10/10
Video of Soyuz TMA-11 pre-launch and liftoff, 5 years ago today: 2012/10/10
Video: Space Shuttle Flight 36 (STS-41) Post Flight Presentation, narrated by the astronauts (18 minutes) 2012/10/10
Recent Comments