NASA STS-133 Report #14 6:30 a.m. CST Thursday, March 3, 2011

Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON Discovery and the International Space Station crews will get a special call Thursday from the White House. President Obama will be calling up to space to talk with all 12 crew members at 4:03 p.m. CST. The call will be aired live on NASA Television.

To kick off Discovery’s eighth day in space, the shuttle and station crews were awakened at 4:05 a.m. by City of Blinding Lights by U2. It was for all the crew members.

After a full day of a successful final planned spacewalk of Discovery’s final mission, the crew will enjoy a well-deserved half-day off. The first part of the day, however, will involve more cargo transfers from both Discovery and the International Space Station. To date, 76 percent of all cargo transfers have been completed.

The crews also will participate in two media interview sessions. The first is to take place at 7:08 a.m. Reporters from CNN; WTTG-TV, Washington, D.C.; WSTP-TV, Tampa, Fla.; and KNBC-TV, Los Angeles, will talk with members of the shuttle crew.

The second is scheduled to take place at 9:33 a.m. Discovery’s Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Mike Barratt and Nicole Stott will talk with reporters from MSNBC; WXIA-TV, Atlanta; and Fox News Radio.

Meanwhile, Station Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Cady Coleman will do maintenance work on the carbon dioxide removal assembly on the U.S. side of the station. The CDRA removes carbon dioxide from the station’s air. The Russian Vozdukh, which also removes carbon dioxide, has been down for repair but is scheduled to be operational again today.

The next status report will be issued at the end of the crews’ day a little before 6:30 p.m., or earlier if warranted.