Later today they will return to their homes in Houston and begin final preparations for the mission. At the pad yesterday, repairs to the surface of the MLP were completed. Following TCDT today, the payload bay doors will be closed as a precaution while hypergolic propellants are loaded into the orbiter this weekend. On Sunday, the Rotating Service Structure will be retracted away from the vehicle for a hot fire test of the three auxiliary power units Sunday evening. On Monday, the payloads will be delivered to the pad's payload change-out room.
Work continues to remove the right hand orbital maneuvering system pod.
The pod will be returned to the Hypergolic Maintenance Facility for scheduled servicing and replaced with another pod. Payload premate tests and installation of the Ku-band antenna are scheduled to begin tomorrow. A more detailed inspection will be conducted today. Runway measurements reveal the orbiter touched down about 3,000 feet from the runway threshold and rolled for about 9,300 feet before coming to a complete stop. The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription.