Discovery is expected to land at the Kennedy Space Center at 11:14 a.m. EDT. Its STS-124 mission to and back from the International Space Station will end with its landing on Saturday, June 14, 2008.

The mission successfully installed the Kibo laboratory and delivered a new toilet system to replace a faulty one.

NASA TV is covering the landing of the space shuttle.

A landing convoy has set itself up for the landing of space shuttle Discovery. Pre-landing checks are being performed. At this time, inspectors are routinely looking at the runway for any foreign objects that might lie on it. This inspection includes any wildlife that may have positioned themselves on the runway—such as alligators.

The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge shares the area around the Kennedy Space Center.

The entry team of NASA flight controllers are monitoring the progress of Discovery as it descends from its orbit around the Earth. The de-orbit burn was reported as being completed “flawlessly.” All systems are reported as “nominal.”

The northwest-to-southeast landing strip (KSC 15) will be used today for the landing of Discovery.
Although only a single landing strip, the strip is considered two runways depending on the approach. If the shuttle lands from the northwest direction it is called Runway 15, while from the southeast direction is it called Runway 33.

The paved runway is 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) in length, with a 1,000-foot (304.8-meter) overrun on each end. The width of the runway is about the length of a football field, 300 feet (91.4 meters), with 50-foot (15.2-meter) asphalt shoulders on each side. 

The runway is 16 inches (40.6 centimeters) thick at its center, and 15 inches (38.1 centimeters) thick on the sides. To accommodate water drainage, the landing strip has a slope of 24 inches (61 centimeters) from the center line to the edge.

The astronauts aboard Discovery will begin to feel the effects of Earth's atmosphere at entry interface (EI), at about 400,000 feet (121,900 meters), at about 76 miles, above the surface of Earth. At EI, around 10:40 a.m. EDT, the nose of Discovery is angled at about 40 degrees for this descent to Earth.

At 10:44 a.m. Discovery is now about 66 miles above the Earth, and about 30 minutes from touchdown.

The rate of its descent is being slowed by the increasing thickness of Earth's atmosphere. The shutlle also helps to slow itself down by a series of banking manuevers. It will lift up one or the other of its wings to place more drag on itself--helping to slow itself down.

At 10:59 a.m., NASA says, "all systems in great shape!" Discovery is flying over the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.

At 12 minutes from landing, 11:02 a.m., Discovery is approaching Florida, about 280 miles away.

About seven minutes before landing, NASA TV begins to show the sky over Florida in preparation for visual observation of the shuttle. Discovery is now visible on the screen as it prepares to make its final approach to KSC.

At about five minutes before touchdown NASA TV shows the commander's and pilot's view from the cockpit of the shuttle as he heads the shuttle toward the runway. Commander Mark Kelly is now manually flying the shuttle.

The double sonic booms are heard at 11:11 a.m.

Kelly hands over the controls to pilot Ken Ham, and then retakes the controls a bit later.

At 11:13 a.m. Kelly announces that the runway is in sight. One minute to touchdown. Discovery is "perfectly aligned."

Touchdown! at 11:15 a.m. EDT.