Discovery, below, and the International Space Station separate after undocking RELATED VIDEO CNN's Miles O'Brien reports on the success of the Discovery mission Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Watch highlights of the undocking Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Discovery crew members answer questions from CNN Interactive users. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K  ALSO: Downlinks: Discovery Crew Profiles In-Depth Special: City in Space INTERACTIVE ISS: A 360° panoramic tour International Space Station 3-D VRML (PCs only) Shuttle Discovery 3-D VRML (PCs only) International Space Station Message Board

June 6, 1999
Web posted at: 12:14 a.m. EDT (0414 GMT)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN)-- The Space Shuttle Discovery is preparing for a rare night landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The shuttle will start its de-orbit burn at 12:54 a.m. EDT, for a scheduled 2:03 a.m. EDT landing.

The weather, which had been a concern earlier, has cleared in the landing area, though rain was spotted thirty miles away. Cross winds are in an acceptable range, up to 12 knots.

The crew's last orbital task was Saturday's release of Starshine, a 19-inch sphere covered with 878 small, circular aluminum mirrors that were polished by schoolchildren.

The sphere is meant to catch light from the sun and reflect it to Earth.

Students from around the world will track Starshine during the six months it circles Earth. By the end of the year, it will plunge through the atmosphere and burn up.

NASA estimates that as many as 25,000 elementary, middle and high school students from around the world will plot the Starshine orbit, incorporating their observations into science and math curricula and sharing their data on the Internet.

Discovery's crew shifted their attention to the trip home after spending nearly a week getting the space station ready for its first long-term occupants, who are to arrive next year.

Discovery unlatched itself from the space station Thursday evening after six days of linked flight. The seven astronauts unloaded 2 tons of gear, made electronic repairs and installed mufflers to reduce noise from clattering fans.

The crew enthused over the atmosphere inside the new outpost, praising its "new car feel."

Crewmember Ellen Ochoa said it "should be pretty comfortable" for its future occupants.

Discovery and its crew blasted into orbit May 27 and reached the space station two days later. The mission was the first of at least 45 space shuttle dockings that will be needed to complete construction of the ISS over a five-year period.

NASA's next trip to the space station is scheduled for December.

The estimated $40 billion to $60 billion project is a cooperative effort among 16 nations, led by the United States and Russia, to build a permanent research platform in space.