CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Discovery aimed for an on-time touchdown today to wrap up a long flying career.
The world's most-traveled spaceship was due to return to Earth - for the last time ever - three minutes before noon.
"Right now, the weather looks great," Mission Control informed the six astronauts.
With just a few hours left to circle the world, commander Steven Lindsey wondered aloud whether Kennedy Space Center was the only landing site under consideration. Mission Control replied that it was, and that the backup landing strip in California had not been activated.
"I know you're from California," Mission Control told Lindsey. "Is there something you were thinking?"
"No, just curious," Lindsey replied. "No, we want to bring Discovery back to Florida."
Minutes later, the astronauts closed the payload bay doors in preparation for Discovery's final fiery ride through the atmosphere.
NASA's oldest shuttle has flown 39 missions over nearly 27 years. It's being retired after this voyage.
Discovery is headed back from the International Space Station. Its crew delivered and installed a new storage compartment, complete with a humanoid robot.
The mission added 13 days to Discovery's lifetime total of 365 days in space. Its total mileage is 148 million miles.
Once back at Kennedy Space Center, Discovery will be decommissioned over the next several months and sent to the Smithsonian Institution for display. Endeavour and then Atlantis will fly once more each in the next few months. Then they, too, will be retired. Their final resting places have yet to be chosen.
Endeavour - scheduled to blast off in less than six weeks - will be moved out to the launch pad Wednesday night.
NASA is under presidential direction to spread its wings beyond low-Earth orbit. The goal is to send astronauts to an asteroid and then Mars in the decades ahead. There is not enough money for NASA to achieve that and maintain the shuttle program at the same time. As a result, the shuttles will stop flying this summer after 30 years.
American astronauts will keep hitching rides to the space station on Russian Soyuz capsules, until private companies are able to provide taxi service to and from orbit. NASA expects to get another nine years out of the space station.
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Online:
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news/index.html
the crew of the final flight of shuttle discovery getting ready to go to the launch pad and then lift off. shuttle endeavour's lift off in april and the last is shuttle atlantis' launch this summer and that is it folks...the shuttle space program will be phased out. sad in a way but there would be much more cost effective and saving space flights that will take over in the future i'm sure, let's just wait and see...but always spectacular are shuttle launches, big amazing machines that can fly up in the sky and beyond and only here in america folks...i am lucky to be one spectator of such an extra ordinary event created by science and fueled by the genius mind. who could ever ask for more...
amazing machines that can fly...the final launch of shuttle discovery and it will return to earth soon :)
Discovery prepares for final flight home
By Associated Press
POSTED: 02:54 p.m. EST, Mar 06, 2011
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.: The space shuttle and space station crews hustled to take care of last-minute business Sunday before sealing their hatches.
Shuttle Discovery will undock from the International Space Station for the final time Monday morning.
When Discovery returns to Earth on Wednesday, it will be retired and sent to the Smithsonian Institution.
The space shuttle and its crew of six have spent more than a week at the space station. They delivered and installed a storage compartment that held a humanoid robot.
The robot, named R2 for Robonaut 2, has yet to be unwrapped. The space station astronauts will get to it within the next few weeks.
Mission Control gave Discovery's astronauts two extra days at the orbiting outpost. They took advantage of the bonus time to empty the storage unit of all the gear that was carried up. The bonus days stretched the entire mission to 13 days on top of the 352 days logged during Discovery's previous 38 missions.
Immediately after undocking, Discovery will fly a victory lap of sorts around the orbiting lab, essentially to take pictures. Then the shuttle astronauts will pull out an inspection boom and survey their ship for any signs of micrometeorite damage.
Discovery's six astronauts accomplished everything they set out to do: installing the storage unit and an equipment platform at the space station and taking two spacewalks.
''Just a friendly reminder,'' Mission Control joked in a morning message. ''Before closing the hatch tonight, make sure everything and everybody is on the correct side!!!!!!''
