Space shuttle passes final inspection

updated 1:34 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2005

SPACE CENTER, Houston - Discovery astronauts gave their spacecraft a final inspection on Sunday and said they were confident of a safe return to Earth on the first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

They checked out flight control systems and used a laptop computer to practice landings before Monday’s touchdown in Florida.

“Discovery is in absolutely great shape,” shuttle commander Eileen Collins said in a media interview from space. “I’m pretty confident about the entry (into the atmosphere) and I’m thinking about the landing.

“I have had a lot of thoughts about Columbia and I will have thoughts after the landing, but we’re all going to be very focused tomorrow on the job at hand,” she said.

After 13 days in orbit, Discovery was scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s east coast at 4:47 a.m. on Monday.

Weather forecasts indicated favorable conditions for landing, NASA flight commentator James Hartsfield said. If problems arose, Discovery could be waved off to an alternate landing site in California or New Mexico on Tuesday.

Long trip home
Discovery and its crew of seven set off for home Saturday after leaving the international space station.

The two space station residents wished the Discovery crew a safe landing.

“It has really been a pleasure and, no, we are not glad to see you go. We would love to have you stay a little longer,” said station astronaut John Phillips. “Have a good flight.”

Shuttle commander Eileen Collins stressed it was not “a final farewell,” because she planned on seeing the two station men back on Earth once their expedition ends in two more months.

Once undocked, Discovery looped around the space station for the first full photographic survey of the orbiting outpost since the last shuttle visit in late 2002, and then sped away into the blackness.

The departing astronauts reported they may have seen a piece of debris fly off the space station, but Mission Control assured them it was just a camera reflection.

Flight controllers, at least those who briefly ducked outdoors, got a triple treat. The Hubble Space Telescope soared over Houston before sunrise, followed by Discovery and then the space station, all three appearing as bright stars.

“We are going to be pretty darn happy to get to wheels stop and see this good crew step off Discovery,” flight director Paul Hill said following the undocking.

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