Discovery crew readies for Florida landing

By Jeff Franks

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Astronauts on shuttle Discovery began
final preparations to land in Florida on Monday as they neared
the end of a mission that NASA hopes has proved it can fly
space shuttles safely again.

The crew awakened just after midnight to get ready for a
scheduled 9:14 a.m. EDT (13:14 GMT) touchdown at Kennedy Space
Center, from which they launched on July 4.

“Looking forward to a good day here and hopefully with good
weather we will be on the ground here in about eight, 10
hours,” flight commander Steve Lindsey radioed to Mission
Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“We’re hoping the same thing,” flight communicator Steve
Swanson replied.

Later in the morning, the astronauts were to close the
cargo bay doors on the shuttle, fire its rockets in a braking
maneuver to start its descent from about 200 miles high and,
just over an hour later, land at Florida.

Weather conditions looked suitable for landing, although
NASA said it was watching out for rain showers that could cause
a delay.

If the shuttle cannot land at 9:14 a.m., it will have a
second chance at 10:50 a.m. EDT (14:50 GMT). After that, NASA
would have to wait until Tuesday and possibly divert Discovery
to Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert.

The shuttle has only enough oxygen to stay in space until
Wednesday, NASA said.

The 13-day flight has been almost flawless, giving the
troubled U.S. space agency hope it is finally back on track
after the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Discovery suffered no damage during launch, which was
NASA’s key goal, and crew members Piers Sellers and Michael
Fossum, who made three spacewalks, performed a repair to the
International Space Station critical to future construction of
the half-finished $100 billion outpost.

The shuttle also dropped off German astronaut Thomas Reiter
at the station, giving it a full three-person crew for the
first time in three years.

Discovery launched amid controversy, with NASA’s top safety
officer saying it was not ready because of doubts that the
problem that doomed Columbia had been fixed.

Columbia’s wing heat shield was cracked at launch by a
chunk of insulating foam falling from the fuel tank, but no one
knew it because there was no way to inspect the shuttle during
flight.

Sixteen days later, the spacecraft disintegrated over Texas
when fiery atmospheric gases penetrated the broken shield
during its return to Earth. The seven astronauts on board were
killed.

The flyaway foam problem showed up again on a subsequent
shuttle flight last summer.

But, after further changes, Discovery’s fuel tank shed only
small bits of the insulation during the July 4 launch.

Extensive in-flight inspections with cameras and sensors on
the shuttle’s robot arm found the flecks had done no harm and
Discovery was pronounced to fit to withstand the scorching
return to Earth.

Spacewalkers Sellers and Fossum also tested techniques to
reach and repair heat shield damage should it occur.

NASA has spent $1.3 billion on safety upgrades since
Columbia.

The space agency plans to fly 16 shuttle missions to finish
the International Space Station, which is sponsored by 16
nations. Its next flight is scheduled for launch around August
28.