NASA STS-128 MCC Status Report #20 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 7, 2009

Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

The 13 crew members onboard the International Space Station and space shuttle Discovery will prepare to part today. They will pack up their final items and close the hatches dividing the two spacecraft in preparation for undocking tomorrow.

The crew woke at 10:30 a.m. to “Only One,” performed by Jeremy Kay and played for Mission Specialist Danny Olivas.

About two and a half hours after wake up, Mission Specialist Jose Hernandez and Flight Engineer Nicole Stott will join to take questions from reporters at Telemundo, WTSP-TV in Florida, and Univision. The interactive event will air live at 1:09 p.m.

The crew will close up the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module today. Once configured, Pilot Kevin Ford will join Hernandez to use the station’s robotic arm to remove Leonardo from its location on the station, and position it in the shuttle’s payload bay for the ride back to Earth.

With Leonardo in place, the crew members, including shuttle commander Rick Sturckow, Ford, mission specialists Pat Forrester, Hernandez, Olivas, Christer Fuglesang, Tim Kopra and station commander Gennady Padalka, flight engineers Mike Barratt, Stott, Roman Romanenko, Robert Thirsk and Frank De Winne will gather one last time for farewells before the hatch closure. Tim Kopra will bid his Expedition 20 crewmates farewell as he prepares to wrap up his first spaceflight mission and return with the space shuttle crew, who will in turn be wishing well to Stott who will remain on station, taking Kopra’s place as an expeditionary crew member.

Hatch closure is expected at 9:30 p.m. Next, the shuttle crew will set up and check out tools and a camera needed for undocking tomorrow.

The next shuttle status report will be issued near the end of the crew’s workday, or earlier if events warrant. The shuttle crew is due to go to sleep about 2 a.m. Tuesday.