Space shuttle Discovery astronauts were awakened at 12:21 a.m. EDT to “The Star Spangled Banner” this morning, played for Commander Alan Poindexter.
Since then, the astronauts have been marching through their landing day timeline. Deorbit preparations began at 3:43 a.m. and Discovery’s payload bay doors were closed at about 5 a.m.
Mission Control Entry Flight Director Bryan Lunney and his team are overseeing Discovery’s systems and monitoring weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility. Currently, conditions are “no go” due to showers in the vicinity. Astronaut Chris Ferguson is flying weather reconnaissance and reporting the results to Mission Control. Lunney and his team are expected to make a “go/no go” decision for the deorbit burn at about 7:30 a.m. The burn would occur at 7:43 a.m. followed by a landing at Kennedy’s runway 33 at 8:48 a.m.