Discovery Flies Solo; Crew Prepares to Come Home

[Guest Glenn]

Source: NASA

 

After undocking from the International Space Station at 3:24 a.m. EDT and circling the Station for final photos of the orbiting outpost, Discovery flies alone.

 

Pilot Jim Kelly executed the first of two separation burns to move Discovery away from the Station. Commander Eileen Collins and her crew of six enjoyed some scheduled off-duty time before going to sleep at 12:39 p.m. EDT.

 

During more than a week of joint operations, the two crews worked together to transfer tons of supplies and equipment to and from the Station, conduct three spacewalks and experiment with techniques for repairing the Shuttle's heat shields.

 

STS-114, dubbed the most photographed spaceflight, set a new precedent for future test flights. Never-before-seen imagery aided engineers in assessing the Shuttle?s external tank performance and ensuring a safe heat shield for return to Earth.

 

A mission of firsts, STS-114 carried the Orbiter?s Boom Sensor System on its maiden flight, performed the first back-flip in spaceflight and made a first-of-its-kind repair to the Shuttle, making spacewalk history.

 

Discovery was the first Shuttle to visit the Station since late 2002. Collins and her crew and the two-man crew of Expedition 11 paid tribute to the astronauts and cosmonauts who have given their lives for space exploration.

 

Discovery and its seven-member crew will continue to orbit the Earth until early Monday, when they are scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Re-entry is supposed to be shown live during 7 News AEDST.

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Watching t live on Fox news. Reentry is a no go at the moment due to weather. Discovery is to do another orbit of the Earth - about 60 to 90 minutes before the flight controller gives the go ahead.

 

 

[Guest Ultralights]

to be honest, i think its a big overreation, so far during 114 missions, not once has the fillers on the heat shield tiles been of concern. and im sure, if not on ALL flight before, there has been filler missing!

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Eaxactly more or less what was said on Fox news.

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Coul be up to 2 hours before another retry at reentry. Cloud level is below 500ft at the moment.

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Discovery is a no go for reentry today due to bad weather.