Astronauts to inspect Discovery

Cape Canaveral (Florida): Astronauts planning one final damage inspection of Discovery at the international space station were confident on Friday that the space shuttle would glide back to Earth next week free of any problems.

"We've got a great ship and it's ready to come home. It's going to be a safe landing," pilot Mark Kelly said in interviews with ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC.

"Based on what we've seen so far and what the risk is, I think all of us feel really comfortable,” he added.

It is the first time such an inspection has occurred this late in a mission.

The extra, late inspection was devised by NASA to make sure that there's never again a disaster on par with the Columbia accident, which killed seven astronauts in 2003.

The crew planned to inspect Discovery using sensors at the end of a 50-foot-boom attached to Discovery's 50-foot robotic arm.

The sensors will scan for near-invisible holes and cracks in the shuttle's left wing caused by micrometeoroids, the dust-sized particles that make up the vast majority of debris circling Earth.

The space debris now also includes a spatula that astronaut Piers Sellers accidentally let go of during a space walk on Wednesday.

NASA said that the spatula posed no risk to the space station or shuttle.

Sellers joked on Friday that he would go to Home Depot to replace it upon his return. "I'm sure it will come out of my pay," he said.

Friday's inspection, on Day 11, follows similar scans Discovery's crew conducted as it closed in on the space station on Day 2 and the close-up examinations of "areas of interest" on Day 4 of the 13-day mission.

Discovery's commander, Steve Lindsey, also maneuvered Discovery into a back flip before docking on the third day so that the space station's two crew members could photograph the shuttle's belly for any signs of damage.

NASA managers gave Discovery a clean bill of health and cleared it for landing next Monday.

They were monitoring glitches with two auxiliary units that power the shuttle's hydraulics system used for steering in flight and braking during landing, but they didn't expect them to have any impact on the mission.

One power unit had problems with its heaters, and the other appeared to have a leak.

"Fortunately they're pretty minor problems," Kelly said.

Discovery's six crew members also planned to finish packing up 4,000 pounds of space station trash and equipment they're hauling back to Earth.

The crew woke up to a recording of the Aggie fight song, played for astronaut Mike Fossum, the first Texas A&M University graduate in space.

"You know Mike, there are quite a few Aggies right here in Mission Control, and all throughout Texas, who have been watching you intently during this mission," said astronaut Steve Swanson from Mission Control in Houston.

"I think we can say the eyes of Texas are upon you," he added.