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Although a metal
object was seen floating away from the spacecraft, Discovery’s team received
the approval from NASA to go through with the landing scheduled for today.
It seems the object
was a clip attached to the rudder, meant to ensure protection against
overheating during ascent. As it does nothing during the ride back, its loss does
not affect the crew’s security.
"There's
no worry at all. Discovery is in great shape," Mark Kelly, shuttle
commander, confidently said Friday.
If
something very serious would have happened, the shuttle would have taken back
to the International Space Station (ISS), where the crew would have waited for
instructions from the mission
managers. Two landing opportunities are available for space shuttle Discovery
and the STS-124 crew to return to Earth today.
Discovery's first
landing opportunity is at 11:15 a.m. EDT on orbit 217. If controllers elect to
take it, Commander Mark Kelly will perform the deorbit burn at 10:10 a.m. to
begin the descent to Kennedy. Orbit 218 provides a second opportunity at 12:50
p.m.
Forecasters predict
good weather at the landing site.
During their mission,
the astronauts have delivered and installed the Kibo pressurized science
laboratory, also known as the JPM. Another one of the shuttle’s tasks was to
bring astronaut Gregory Chamitoff to the space station. He replaced his
colleague Garrett Reisman, after a three-month stay. Chamitoff will
oversee the operations on the space station for a period of six months.
The first component of
the lab was installed during space shuttle Endeavour’s 16-day mission that
ended in March. The final component is planned to be delivered to the ISS next
year. The laboratory’s costs total more than $2 billion.
The June project
brings to an end NASA’s 35th mission, its 26th shuttle flight to the space
station and the 123rd flight in shuttle program history.
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