With forecasters predicting generally good, if somewhat windy, weather ahead of an approaching front, the shuttle Discovery's astronauts tested the ship's re-entry systems and packed for landing Saturday back at the Kennedy Space Center.

Commander Lee Archambault, pilot Dominic "Tony" Antonelli, flight engineer Steven Swanson, John Phillips, Joseph Acaba, Richard Arnold and returning space station flight engineer Sandra Magnus planned to get up at 5:13 a.m. Saturday and to begin working through the deorbit timeline around 8:33 a.m.

Flying upside down and backward over the Indian Ocean, Archambault and Antonelli plan to fire Discovery's twin braking rockets for three minutes and one second starting at 12:33:44 p.m., slowing the ship by about 231 mph to drop out of orbit.

After crossing Central America just west of the Panama Canal, Discovery's flight path will carry the ship north above central Cuba and then up Florida's east coast to the Kennedy Space Center. Landing on runway 15 is expected at 1:39:42 p.m. A backup opportunity is available one orbit later, at 3:13:59 p.m.

While the shuttle astronauts are rigging the shuttle for entry, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the international space station. The Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, carrying incoming space station commander Gennady Padalka, flight engineer Michael Barratt and a wealthy space tourist, Charles Simonyi.

If all goes well, Padalka will guide the Soyuz to a docking at the space station's aft port around 9:14 a.m. Expedition 18 commander Mike Fincke, flight engineer Yuri Lonchakov and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata plan to welcome Padalka and his crewmates aboard the station around 12:10 p.m., less than a half-hour before Discovery's deorbit rocket firing.

"The hurricane is coming," Fincke joked with flight controllers late today. "The next crew is on their way."

To provide a bit of additional clearance, a rocket firing was planned today "to phase the Discovery out in front and beneath the international space station, it'll be well out in front by the time tomorrow rolls around," said entry Flight Director Richard Jones. "As you know, yesterday there was a successful launch of a Soyuz and we have another crew that is heading to international space station. Right now, they should be docking around (9:14 a.m. EDT) tomorrow, just as the 119 crew is getting ready to enter deorbit preparations. So there's a lot of traffic up there on orbit right now."

Jones said Discovery has enough on-board supplies to stay in orbit until Tuesday at the latest and that NASA will not staff its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Saturday or Sunday. If Discovery is still in orbit Monday morning, however, all of NASA's sites will be staffed and the shuttle will be brought down on one coast or the other.

The Spaceflight Meteorology Group at the Johnson Space Center in Houston is predicting generally acceptable weather at Kennedy Saturday with scattered clouds at 5,000 and 20,000 feet, winds from the south at 13 knots with gusts to 21 knots and a slight chance of a broken cloud deck at 5,000 feet.

The forecast worsens Sunday, with low clouds and possible thunderstorms in the area as the front moves through, but conditions are expected to improve by Monday.

"In terms of an entry strategy, we have a lot of consumables," Jones said. "What that means is, we have plenty of capability to go out until end of mission plus three, on Tuesday, if we need to. Hopefully, we won't need all of that. With that capability behind us, we'll be able to look at Kennedy Space Center tomorrow as well as Sunday, exclusively, we won't be calling up any alternative sites until Monday, that's what we call our pick-'em day. We'll be calling up Edwards and Northrup (Strip, N.M.) at that time if we we go past our KSC opportunities between now and then."

There are no technical problems of any significance with the space shuttle and NASA's Mission Management Team today officially cleared the ship's nose cap and wing leading edge panels for entry.

Here is a timeline of major entry-day events for the two Florida landing opportunities Saturday (in EDT; times subject to change; best viewed with a fixed-width font):

EDT...........EVENT

Rev. 201 Deorbit to KSC

08:33 AM......Begin deorbit timeline
08:48 AM......Radiator stow
08:58 AM......Mission specialists seat installation
09:04 AM......Computers set for deorbit prep
09:08 AM......Hydraulic system configuration
09:33 AM......Flash evaporator checkout
09:39 AM......Final payload deactivation
09:53 AM......Payload bay doors closed
10:03 AM......Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software load
10:13 AM......OPS-3 transition
10:38 AM......Entry switchlist verification
10:48 AM......Deorbit maneuver update
10:53 AM......Crew entry review
11:08 AM......CDR/PLT don entry suits
11:25 AM......Inertial measurement unit alignment
11:33 AM......CDR/PLT strap in; MS suit don
11:50 AM......Shuttle steering check
11:53 AM......Hydraulic system pre start
12:00 PM......Toilet deactivation
12:08 PM......Vent doors closed for entry
12:13 PM......Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn
12:19 PM......Astronaut seat ingress
12:28 PM......Single hydraulic power unit start
       
12:33:44 PM...Deorbit ignition (dT: 3:01; dV: 231 mph)
12:36:45 PM...Deorbit burn complete

01:07:58 PM...Entry interface (range to KSC: 4,942 miles)
01:12:57 PM...1st roll command to left
01:27:56 PM...1st left-to-right roll reversal
01:30:00 PM...C-band radar acquisition
01:33:09 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5
01:35:20 PM...Velocity less than mach 1
01:36:31 PM...Shuttle banks to line up on runway 15
01:39:42 PM...Landing


Rev. 202 Deorbit to KSC

01:48 PM......MCC 'go' for deorbit burn
01:54 PM......MS seat ingress
02:03 PM......Single APU start

02:08:44 PM...Deorbit ignition (dT: 3:01; dV: 231 mph)
02:11:45 PM...Deorbit burn complete

02:42:21 PM...Entry interface (range to KSC: 5,023 miles)
02:47:21 PM...1st roll command to right
02:56:36 PM...1st right-to-left roll reversal
03:03:00 PM...C-band radar acquisition
03:07:24 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5
03:09:37 PM...Velocity less than mach 1
03:10:23 PM...Shuttle banks to line up on runway 15
03:13:59 PM...Landing

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VIDEO: PRE-LANDING TESTS OF SHUTTLE'S FLIGHT CONTROLS PLAY

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VIDEO: LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING INBOARD PLAY
VIDEO: LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING DOWNWARD PLAY
VIDEO: RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING UPWARD PLAY
VIDEO: RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING INBOARD PLAY
VIDEO: RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING DOWNWARD PLAY

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VIDEO: FULL EXPERIENCE FROM LIFTOFF TO ORBIT PLAY
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VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF FLYING AROUND THE SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: STUNNING VIEWS OF SPACE STATION FROM FLYAROUND PLAY
VIDEO: FOOTAGE OF SHUTTLE DISCOVERY AFTER UNDOCKING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE DISCOVERY UNDOCKS FROM SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: HATCHWAY CLOSED BETWEEN TWO SPACECRAFT PLAY
VIDEO: FAREWELL CEREMONY BETWEEN THE TWO CREWS PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF UNDOCKING AN FLYAROUND PLAY

VIDEO: SOYUZ MOVED TO LAUNCH PAD FOR EXPEDITION 19 PLAY
VIDEO: ROCKET HOISTED VERTICALLY ONTO LAUNCH PAD PLAY
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VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 10 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: PRESIDENT OBAMA CALLS THE SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: JOINT CREW IN-FLIGHT NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 9 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKER RICK ARNOLD WORKS ON STATION ARM PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKER JOE ACABA MOVES RAIL CART PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 8 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: NEWS MEDIA INTERVIEWS WITH CREW PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 7 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: WALKTHROUGH OF SPACEWALK NO. 2 PLAN PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 6 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: NEWS MEDIA INTERVIEWS WITH CREW PLAY
VIDEO: SECOND SOLAR WING FULLY DEPLOYED PLAY
VIDEO: SECOND SOLAR WING DEPLOYED HALF-WAY PLAY
VIDEO: FIRST SOLAR WING FULLY DEPLOYED PLAY
VIDEO: FIRST SOLAR WING DEPLOYED HALF-WAY PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION OF SOLAR ARRAY DEPLOYMENT PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
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VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION OF TRUSS INSTALLATION PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
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VIDEO: POWER TRUSS HANDED FROM SHUTTLE TO STATION PLAY
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VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF S6 TRUSS UNBERTHING PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED TOUR OF DISCOVERY'S PAYLOAD BAY PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
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VIDEO: SHUTTLE CREW WELCOMED ABOARD STATION PLAY
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VIDEO: SHUTTLE'S POINT OF VIEW DURING BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: DISCOVERY PERFORMS 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF HEAT SHIELD INSPECTIONS PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL STS-119 LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: EXTERNAL TANK CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-1 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-2 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-6 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: FRONT CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER PLAY
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VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: THE VIP VIEWING SITE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 009 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 050 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 051 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 054 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 061 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 063 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 070 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 071 PLAY
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VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 TRACKER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE PLAY
VIDEO: INSIDE MISSION CONTROL DURING LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: PAYLOAD BAY DOORS OPENED IN ORBIT PLAY

VIDEO: SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY BLASTS OFF PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE'S CREW MODULE HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST STEVE SWANSON BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: PILOT TONY ANTONELLI BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: COMMANDER LEE ARCHAMBAULT BOARDS PLAY
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VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS4 JOHN PHILLIPS PLAY
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VIDEO: CRANE ROTATES DISCOVERY VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
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VIDEO: NOSE WHEEL LANDING GEAR RETRACTED PLAY | HI-DEF

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VIDEO: STS-119 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
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VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
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