Status Report

NASA STS-114 Mission Status Report #26 – 7 August 2005 – 8:30 p.m. CDT

By SpaceRef Editor
August 8, 2005
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NASA STS-114 Mission Status Report #26 – 7 August 2005 – 8:30 p.m. CDT
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Discovery’s Return to Flight mission is scheduled to conclude with a landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center early Monday morning.

Discovery has two opportunities to land at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday. The first begins with a 3 minute, 7 second deorbit burn of the Orbital Maneuvering System engines at 2:40 a.m., followed by landing at 3:47 a.m. CDT.

In the event weather prevents landing on that first opportunity, a second is available, with deorbit burn at 4:15 a.m. resulting in a 5:22 a.m. CDT landing. It will be the 15th night landing in Florida and 20th overall for the Space Shuttle Program.

Weather forecasters predict favorable conditions with good visibility and only a slight chance of showers over the water in the vicinity of the three-mile-long landing strip. The backup site at California’s Edwards Air Force Base was not activated for Monday.

The crew was awakened at 7:39 p.m. CDT by the song “Come on Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners. It was played for Discovery’s Commander Eileen Collins from the Mission Control Team.

Collins, Pilot Jim Kelly and Mission Specialist Steve Robinson, who also serves as Discovery’s Flight Engineer, and Mission Specialist Andy Thomas will be on the flight deck for landing. Mission Specialists Soichi Noguchi, Wendy Lawrence and Charlie Camarda will be on Discovery’s middeck.

After its departure Saturday, Discovery is now about 200 miles away from the International Space Station and increasing that gap by about 9 miles each time it orbits the Earth. Onboard the Station, Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Station Science Officer John Phillips have returned to their normal schedule, waking up at 1 a.m. CDT Monday.

The next STS-114 mission status report will be issued Monday morning, or earlier, if events warrant.

SpaceRef staff editor.