Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – The astronauts on space shuttle Discovery got up this morning prepared to complete the final cargo transfers between the two vehicles and bid farewell to the Expedition 16 crew.

Farewells are scheduled to begin at 12:28 p.m. CST, followed by hatch closing at 12:43 p.m. CST.

The crews of Discovery and the International Space Station were awakened before the change from daylight to standard time. The crew was roused at 1:08 a.m. CDT with the song "The Presence of the Lord," written by gospel musician Kurt Carr, originally recorded by Byron Cage. Cage's rendition was played for Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson.

After the transfers are complete the two crews will enjoy some well-deserved time off before they bid farewell. The most important transfer from station to shuttle is the return of astronaut Clay Anderson. Anderson, who joined the station's Expedition 15 crew in June, is being replaced by Dan Tani, who arrived at the station with the STS-120 crew.

Yesterday, Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski repaired a damaged solar array during a spacewalk that lasted 7 hours, 19 minutes. Fellow spacewalker Doug Wheelock helped from the truss by keeping an eye on the distance between Parazynski and the array.

The repair was completed at just after 10 a.m. Friday and then the crew deployed the P6 array to its full extension. The array repair became the priority of space shuttle Discovery's mission on Tuesday after two tears were noticed during the array's unfurling.

The spacewalk was the 4th of the STS-120 mission and the 96th in support of station assembly and maintenance.

Monday will be another busy day with undocking scheduled for 4:32 a.m. CST followed by a fly around of the station and an inspection of the shuttle's heat shield. Landing is set for just after noon on Wednesday.

The next STS-120 status report will be issued Sunday evening or earlier if events warrant.

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