KSC-05pd-1476

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Eileen Collins, mission commander on Return to Flight STS-114, and Pilot James Kelly walk away from the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) at the Shuttle Landing Facility on NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. They are practicing landing the orbiter using the STA, which is a modified Grumman American Aviation-built Gulf Stream II executive jet that was modified to simulate an orbiter’s cockpit, motion and visual cues, and handling qualities. In flight, the STA duplicates the orbiter’s atmospheric descent trajectory from approximately 35,000 feet altitude to landing on a runway. Because the orbiter is unpowered during re-entry and landing, its high-speed glide must be perfectly executed the first time. Mission STS-114 is scheduled to launch aboard Space Shuttle Discovery with a crew of seven on July 13 at 3:51 p.m. from Launch Pad 39B.