STS-119
Report #25
Friday, March 27, 2009 - 5:30 p.m. CDT
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON � The astronauts on space shuttle Discovery are preparing to spend what is planned to be their final night in orbit, with wake up set for 4:13 a.m. Saturday to ready for a 12:39 p.m. landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Weather conditions are forecast to be acceptable for the shuttle's return home to Florida.

Discovery's crew will go to sleep at 8:13 p.m. Following wake up on Saturday, they will begin deorbit preparations at 7:33 a.m. Discovery will fire its engines at 11:33 a.m. to begin the descent to Florida. A second opportunity is available if needed for Discovery to land at Kennedy on Saturday, beginning with a deorbit burn engine firing at 1:08 p.m. leading to a 2:14 p.m. touchdown.

Kennedy is the only landing site being considered for Discovery on Saturday.

While Discovery is preparing to come home, a new crew will be arriving at the International Space Station. The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, NASA astronaut Michael Barratt and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi is set to dock to the complex at 8:14 a.m. on Saturday.

The next status report will be issued following Discovery's Saturday landing, or earlier if events warrant.