Live in Orbit: Discovery prepares for return home

Space shuttle Discovery's seven astronauts finished a final heat shield inspection before 11 p.m. Tuesday and is now resting up for what is planned to be their final full day in orbit.

The shuttle's 13-day mission is scheduled end Thursday with landing opportunities at Kennedy Space Center possible at 7:05 p.m. and 8:42 p.m. Early forecasts show showers that could delay the landing are a possibility.

"(It) was just a tremendous mission for the International Space Station," said Dan Hartman, NASA's mission operations and integration manager for the space station program, said of Discovery's results. "We basically met all of our major objectives we set out to do and accomplished those very efficiently."

Today the crew will stow last pieces of equipment for landing and test flight control surfaces and thrusters to make sure they are in good condition for re-entry through Earth's atmosphere.

By this afternoon, mission managers hope to have reviewed images from today's inspection and cleared Discovery's Thermal Protection System for re-entry.

Here's the timeline of events today:

++ 10:59 a.m.: Shuttle crew awakes.
++ 2:04 p.m.: Cabin stowage begins.
++ 3:14 p.m.: Checkout of Flight Control Systems.
++ 4:24 p.m.: Hot-fire test of Reaction Control System jets.
++ 4:54 p.m.: Media interviews.
++ 10:29 p.m.: Recumbent seat set up for mission specialist Tim Kopra.
++ 11:49 p.m.: Ku-band antenna stowed.
++ 2:59 a.m. (Thursday): Discovery crew sleeps.