Shuttle Astronauts Ready Endeavour for Landing
The space shuttle Endeavour’s astronauts test-fired their steering jets and wiggled their flaps Sunday in preparation for their return home.
Endeavour is scheduled to land just before 9 a.m. PDT Tuesday, ending an Earth observation mission that began April 9. Weather forecasts are favorable for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center.
Commander Sidney Gutierrez and pilot Kevin Chilton activated hydraulic systems that drive wing and tail flaps Sunday and then fired 44 steering jets on the shuttle’s nose and tail. Mission Control said the checkout went well.
The $366-million radar imaging system in Endeavour’s cargo bay continued to scan Earth.
NASA officials said the radar system has filled 124 reels of tape on board the shuttle with recorded data for later analysis on Earth. Some pictures are also transmitted to the ground. Scientists at the Johnson Space Center in Houston said they were delighted with the images they were getting.
At a crew news conference televised to reporters at Mission Control, the astronauts talked about the spectacular views.
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