NATION : Discovery Readied for Landing
Discovery’s astronauts awoke early today to begin their final full day of a nearly flawless space shuttle mission. The flight, the space agency’s first shuttle mission in nearly six months, is scheduled to end at 6:57 a.m. PDT Wednesday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Good weather is expected for the Mojave Desert landing.
Commander Richard N. Richards and pilot Robert Cabana completed a series of tests this morning to make sure Discovery’s systems were ready for the fiery dive through the atmosphere and touchdown at the base.
A problem was reported when a heater on one of the shuttle’s three auxiliary power units failed, but a backup heater was put into operation and was working fine, Mission Control said.
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