Crews on the International Space Station have closed the hatch to the cargo module that shuttle Discovery delivered Aug. 30, setting the stage for its removal from the station and return to the shuttle's payload bay.The vestibule between the Italian-built module called Leonardo and its Harmony node docking port is in the process of being depressurized to vacuum level.
Discovery shipped Leonardo to the science complex orbiting 225 miles above Earth with more than 15,000 pounds of food, furnishings, exercise equipment and science facilities and experiments.
The cylindrical module will return home with about 2,400 pounds of trash, surplus equipment and experiment samples.
A little after 6 p.m., Discovery pilot Kevin Ford and mission specialist Jose Hernandez will grab hold of Leonardo with the station's robotic arm.
Around 7:30, 16 bolts fastening the module to its docking port will loosen, and the arm will gradually pull Leonardo from the station.
By 9 p.m., if the work proceeds on time, Ford and Hernandez will have gently tucked the module back into the shuttle payload bay, where it will lock into place for the return home.
Then around 10:30 p.m., the seven Discovery astronauts will bid goodbye to the station's six residents with a brief ceremony.
The shuttle crew - now including Tim Kopra, who swapped places with Nicole Stott - will seal Discovery's hatch closed and prepare to shove away from the station on Tuesday.
Discovery is scheduled to land at 7:06 p.m. Thursday at Kennedy Space Center, concluding a 13-day mission.
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