Discovery: Astronauts preparing to landing

When mission control woke up the astronauts just after 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT), Discovery commander Steve Lindsey made it clear that his crew, weary after a 13-day mission that he said was the busiest of his four fights, wanted to come.

Photo: Discovery: Astronauts preparing to landing

The weather forecast was mixed for Monday morning at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the only landing site NASA has called up for the day. Rain clouds to the north were forecast to dip south, and the big question was whether they would hold off in time for landing.

NASA's spaceflight meteorology group predicted scattered Monday morning showers and storms, with worse weather Tuesday. The National Weather Service's forecast was for a 55 percent chance of rain at the shuttle landing strip as of early Monday morning, the AP reports.

Landing at Edwards costs NASA about $1.7 million ( Ђ 1.3 million) more because it has to get the shuttle back to Florida.

As he went to bed Sunday evening, Lindsey said he hoped that Monday he'd wake up and be able to walk on the ground later that day.

The shuttle itself was cleared Sunday for landing. After seven different inspection efforts, engineers and astronauts couldn't find any damage to the shuttle's heat shield. A small leak with one of three power units that control braking and maneuvering for landing did not appear to be a big deal, NASA mission managers decided Sunday.