Discovery Doors Closed; Weather Looks Marginal

Discovery has just closed her payload bay doors in preparation for today's 1:39 pm EDT landing here at the Kennedy Space Center.

In what is known as Block 9 to the crew, the doors were closed and latched at 10:04 am EDT. Up next is Block 10, which is Discovery maneuvering to a proper attitude for the orbiter's S-Band communications.

Current weather forecast calls for KSC to have strong winds from the south and increasing. A layer of broken clouds between 4K & 5K feet; Broken at 20,000 feet. Winds are expected from the south at 23 knots, with a crosswind at 22 knots for the 1:39 pm ET first landing opportunity on Runway 15.