STS-114 Report #26 Sunday, Aug. 7, 2005 -- 8:30 p.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas DiscoveryÂ’s Return to Flight mission is scheduled to conclude with a landing at NASAÂ’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 fi ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #25 Sunday, Aug. 7, 2005 – noon CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas Discovery’s crew is spending what should be its last night in space, with an early morning landing planned Monday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, concluding a voyage of 5.35 million miles. In preparation for tomorrow’s 3:47 a.m. CDT landing, Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jim Kelly and Mission Specialist Steve Robinson activated one of three hydraulic systems on Discovery and tested al ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #24 Saturday, Aug. 6, 2005 – 8:30 p.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas Discovery’s astronauts will begin turning their attention toward coming back to Earth Monday by stowing equipment and verifying operation of the orbiter’s flight control surfaces and system. The crew was awakened at 7:39 p.m. CDT by “The One and Only Flower in the World” sung by the Japanese group SMAP. It was played for Mission Specialist Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Explor ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #23 Saturday, Aug. 6, 2005 – 1:30 p.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas Discovery is flying solo today, following its early morning departure from the International Space Station, concluding nine days of cooperative work between the two crews. Pilot Jim Kelly was at the controls as latches between the two vehicles were released and Discovery began to back gently away from the Station. Undocking occurred at 2:24 a.m. CDT as the two spacecraft flew high over the Pacific Ocean, west ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #22 Saturday, Aug. 6, 2005 – 12:30 a.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas After more than a week of working together in space, the Space Shuttle Discovery and International Space Station crews bid each other farewell tonight. Following a crew farewell ceremony at 11:36 p.m. CDT, hatches between the spacecraft were closed at 12:14 a.m. CDT, with Discovery's undocking planned for 2:24 a.m. CDT Saturday morning. “The Air Force Song” was the Shuttle crew wake-up song for ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #21 Friday, Aug. 5, 2005 – 7 p.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas Discovery astronauts and their hosts on the International Space Station undocked the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from the Station's Unity Node Friday and reberthed it in the Shuttle's cargo bay. Discovery Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jim Kelly and Mission Specialists Soichi Noguchi (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Steve Robinson, Andy Thomas, Wendy Lawrence and Charlie Camarda, also made prepar ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #20 Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005 – 11:45 p.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas Now in their eleventh day of the mission and with three successful spacewalks behind them, the STS-114 crew of Space Shuttle Discovery is slated to begin preparations for undocking and the final day with their International Space Station counterparts. Their activities for the day include final equipment transfers, stowage and return of the robotic arm, boom and cargo container to the Shuttle payload bay. &Acir ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #19 Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005 – 4 p.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas Space Shuttle Discovery’s heat shield is cleared for the return to Earth early Monday after mission managers decided today that a fourth spacewalk to deal with a puffed out thermal blanket is unnecessary. Wind tunnel tests overnight at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California showed little chance of any significant debris coming from the blanket at supersonic speeds. Further engineering analysis sh ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #18 Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005 – 11 p.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas After an eventful day supporting the third spacewalk of the mission, a light duty day of transfer activities, special events and time off lies ahead for the Space Shuttle Discovery crew as they begin their tenth day in space. The seven-member Shuttle crew awoke to the well-known country song “Amarillo by Morning,” performed by George Strait, at 10:09 p.m. CDT. Their Station counterparts, the Expe ...Continue Reading

STS-114 Report #17 Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005 - 7:30 p.m. CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas Despite days of anticipation and intense planning, space-walking astronaut Steve Robinson made it look easy as he gently pulled two protruding gap fillers from between thermal protection tiles on Discovery's underside Wednesday morning. "It looks like this big patient is cured," Robinson told delighted flight controllers. Fellow spacewalker Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency helped Ro ...Continue Reading