Discovery’s heat shield was cleared for landing Wednesday, and the crew checked out the systems that will be used to control the space shuttle’s return to Earth.
The first landing opportunity is planned for 7:05 p.m. EDT Thursday, but Mission Control is keeping a close watch on weather conditions at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A second opportunity is available on the following orbit at 8:42 p.m.
Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Kevin Ford spent Wednesday preparing the shuttle for re-entry, completing a checkout of the flight control systems and test-firing the shuttle’s reaction control system thrusters.
Discovery to Perform Orbital Adjustment Burn
Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:59:26 AM CDT
Space shuttle Discovery will perform an orbital adjustment burn at 12:02 p.m. EDT to avoid an unidentified piece of debris. The latest tracking data indicates that the debris will move in and out of the conjunction box around Discovery. The first time it would move within the box would be at about 12:55 p.m. Although unclear, the object is believed to be from the mission’s third spacewalk. After the maneuver, the debris will no longer be an issue. This move will not have an impact on the shuttle’s deorbit burn times scheduled for today, which begin with a planned deorbit burn at 5:59 p.m. and a daylight landing at 7:05 p.m. The next opportunity is one hour after sunset with the deorbit burn at 7:36 p.m. and a landing at 8:42 p.m.
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