KSC-05-S-00275

SHUTTLE CONTROL: Coming in on its final approach now, landing gear on the 747 are down. Again, this is the final leg of a three hop flight starting in California, going to Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Spending two nights at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana before coming in this morning here at Kennedy Space Center. This is a welcome site for employees at KSC, to see the vehicle back in town, moments away from touch down. Discovery is returning back to KSC. Main gear down, and nose gear touch down. Discovery is back at Kennedy Space Center. Landing on the runway going North to South. 747 will continue to, taxi towards the end of runway. Once there, it will stop. Passing the mid-field point right now. Once at the end of the runway, it will stop and a tow truck will be right out to it, to actually tow into the Mate-Demate device, where over the next several hours, Discovery will be lifted off the back of the 747. The 747 will be removed, backed out and Discovery will be lowered down on its landing gear, and then this time tomorrow, it will be towed back to the Orbiter Processing Facility, completion of Mission STS-114. Once in the Orbiter Processing Facility, the payload bay doors will be opened and de-stow operations of the materials brought back from the International Space Station will begin. Discovery is now slated to fly on the next Space Shuttle Mission, currently targeted for no earlier then March of 2006, Mission STS-121 back to the International Space Station. Now that Discovery is back at Kennedy Space Center, this will end the commentary for this mission and for this return ferry flight. From the Kennedy Space Center, this is Shuttle Control.