Saturday, March 28, 2009

Live in Orbit: : Discovery heading home


LIVE IMAGES: Refresh this page for updates and the latest still image from NASA TV.Discovery's astronauts began preparations for landing today after getting an early morning wake-up call from Houston's Mission Control Center.

The shuttle is scheduled to start its supersonic dive back through the atmosphere at 12:33 p.m. and land on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 1:39 p.m.

"I'm looking forward to being home and seeing everyone today - hopefully," said astronaut Sandra Magnus, who returns home after being in space for 134 days.

The wake-up song, "I have a Dream" by Abba, was played for Magnus.

As Discovery prepares for its return, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft is expected to arrive at the International Space Station.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, U.S. astronaut Michael Barratt and billionaire software developer Charles Simonyi are slated to dock at the space station about 9:14 a.m.

We'll have live coverage of their arrival starting at 8:45 a.m., and you can also see coverage of a 12:10 p.m. hatch opening and welcome ceremony starting at 11:45 a.m. And of course you can watch coverage of Discovery's return.

Should weather or technical problems prompt NASA flight directors to keep Discovery aloft, a second and last landing opportunity of the day will come at 3:14 p.m. at KSC.

NASA officials said early today that the weather forecast for landing looks pretty good.

Spaceflight meteorologists expect scattered clouds 5,000 above the KSC landing strip and visibility at 7 miles.

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