The mission of the space shuttle Discovery is almost accomplished! The space shuttle Discovery, carrying the crew of seven astronauts, is heading back towards Earth! The US space agency NASA reported that the astronauts on Friday checked out the space shuttle Discovery's flight systems to ensure a safe landing at its spaceport.

According to NASA, the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, today (Saturday) afternoon. If the weather stays fine, the space shuttle will land on the three-mile runway of KSC at 1:39 p. m., 3 or 4 minutes after Discovery's twin sonic booms. If the shuttle could not land in the first attempt, the second opportunity would be 3:14 p. m.

The weather is generally expected to be favorable, but according to the weather forecast reports, there could be scattered clouds 5,000 feet above the landing strip. Thus, there is a little chance of clouds blocking the view of the runway.

Lee Archambault, the space shuttle commander, said, "We'll keep our fingers crossed."

NASA reported that it cleared the space shuttle Discovery's heat shield for re-entry, late Friday afternoon. On Friday, the astronauts also exchanged a warm "aloha" with students at the Honolulu school, the alma mater of President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, the Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, whom the space shuttle Discovery left at the International Space Station, said that he could smell the "odd odor" of the space coming in from outside the space station.

"One thing I've heard people say before, but it wasn't so obvious, was the smell right when you open up that hatch. Space definitely has a smell that's different than anything else," said the Discovery pilot Dominic "Tony" Antonelli, after a March 21 spacewalk.

Wakata and Antonelli, who helped the Discovery's spacewalkers climb in and out of their spacesuits, were not able to put the smell of space into words.

Thomas Jones, NASA's veteran astronaut who took three spacewalks told SPACE. com that the space smells like burnt gunpowder or the ozone smell of electrical equipment. Jones said, "When you repressurize the airlock and get out of your suit, there is a distinct odor of ozone, a faint acrid smell. It's not noticeable inside the suit. The suit smells like plastic inside."