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Shuttle Discovery Scheduled to Land Soon

   VOA News  March 09, 2011
   The  space  shuttle  Discovery  is  seen  from the International Space
   Station  as  the  two  orbital  spacecraft  accomplish  their relative
   separation on March 7, 2011

Photo: NASA

   The  space  shuttle  Discovery  is  seen  from the International Space
   Station  as  the  two  orbital  spacecraft  accomplish  their relative
   separation on March 7, 2011

   The  U.S.  space  shuttle  Discovery is set to return to Earth for the
   final time Wednesday.
   The spacecraft and its crew of five men and one woman are scheduled to
   land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after spending more than a
   week at the International Space Station.
   Discovery  is  completing  its  39th and final mission, which included
   delivering  a  humanoid robot and a new external storage module to the
   space station.
   Once  back  on  Earth, the shuttle is expected to be placed on exhibit
   either  at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum
   in Washington, or at its annex location just outside the U.S. capital,
   where the shuttle Enterprise is on permanent display.

   Watch Discovery's final landing live here via NASA TV

   Discovery  is the oldest and longest-serving vehicle in NASA's shuttle
   fleet.  It will be the first of NASA's three remaining shuttles to be
   retired.  NASA plans to end its space shuttle program later this year
   after  the  final  scheduled  missions  of  the orbiters Endeavour and
   Atlantis.
   NASA lost two other shuttles in disasters over the past 25 years.
   In  January  1986,  the  shuttle  Challenger exploded 73 seconds after
   liftoff,  killing  all  seven  astronauts  on board, including Christa
   McAuliffe.   She  was the first teacher being sent into space as part
   of a NASA program.
   In  February  2003,  seven  astronauts  were  killed  when the shuttle
   Columbia disintegrated while re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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