STS-97 Status Report #20 10 Dec 2000 7 a.m. CST

Endeavour’s five-member crew will pack up and get ready to come home today after successfully completing all the objectives of the STS-97 mission to help the International Space Station spread its wings.

Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Mike Bloomfield and Mission Specialists Marc Garneau, Carlos Noriega and Joe Tanner were awakened at 6:06 a.m. CST, as Endeavour led the station on orbit by about 530 nautical miles.

Aboard the station, Expedition 1 Commander Bill Shepherd, Pilot Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev had been awake since midnight, enjoying a light-duty day of housekeeping and communications passes with friends and family members.

Endeavour’s morning wake-up music was ìBeyond the Sea,î sung by Bobby Darin — a reference to the traditions observed on the station by Navy Commander Jett and Navy Captain Shepherd, including the ringing of the station’s ship’s bell when the shuttle crew departed Saturday.

Today, Jett and Bloomfield will check out the systems that will be used for landing. A test of the aerodynamic control surfaces they will use to steer Endeavour like a glider through the atmosphere is set for 10:06 a.m. CST. A hot-firing of the reaction control system jets they will use to guide the shuttle out of orbit is set for 11:16 a.m.

After lunch, Jett, Tanner and Noriega will talk with reporters at the Associated Press, and the Telemundo and Univision Networks at 2:51 p.m. CST. The entire crew then will stow away the gear that was used on the space station assembly mission.

Endeavour is scheduled to touch down at 5:04 p.m. CST Monday at Kennedy Space Center.

The next STS-97 status report will be issued Sunday evening.