Space shuttle prepares for Florida landing Monday

Commander Brent Jett, right, and pilot Michael Bloomfield check equipment for their trip home

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) -- Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavour spent Sunday, their last full day in space, testing a number of systems they will use for re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and landing Monday.

Endeavour is scheduled to touch down at the Kennedy Space Center at 6:04 p.m. EST Monday. Although the weather forecast is good, it does deteriorate after Monday, so NASA may open Edwards Air Force Base as a backup site.

As the shuttle re-enters Earth's atmosphere it stops being a spacecraft and flies like an airplane -- or more accurately, a glider making an unpowered descent.

VIDEO CNN's Miles O'Brien interviews the shuttle crew on orbit Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Watch the deployment of the first 'solar wing' Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     ALSO How solar cells work Transcript: Shuttle crew answers questions from CNN.com users     INTERACTIVE All about mission STS-97 Cult 3-D model of the Space shuttle Columbia A 360° stroll through the International Space Station Cult3D models of the International Space Station and Soyuz     IN DEPTH   • The International Space Station   • Space Shuttle Central     MESSAGE BOARD Do we need the International Space Station?

So commander Brent Jett, pilot Michael Bloomfield and flight engineer Marc Garneau turned on the flaps, rudder and other flight systems to test them, as well as the rocket engines that will bring them out of orbit.

Endeavour is returning from a mission to the International Space Station, where Canadian Garneau, working the shuttle's robotic arm, and spacewalkers Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega delivered and installed an enormous array of photoelectric cells that spread out like wings across the 13-story station.

The solar array, the largest fixed structure ever flown in space, generates the electricity the space station will need to add new modules, in particular the U.S. laboratory Destiny, scheduled to arrive aboard the space shuttle Discovery in January.

Capable of generating 65 kilowatts, enough electricity to light up a small neighborhood, the array will power much of the early construction on the station. Ultimately, the station will support almost an acre of such solar arrays.

"We are one gigantic step closer to putting on board the space station the beginnings of what will be the most sophisticated laboratory ever in space," said Milt Heflin, NASA's deputy chief flight director.

The space station continues to be occupied by the Expedition One crew, led by American Bill Shepherd and including Russians Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalyov.

They have been living there for five weeks, making life-support and other vital systems operational. With Endeavour gone, they will turn their attention to unpacking supplies left by the shuttle crew, including water, food, clothing and a few Christmas gifts.

Then the Expedition One crew will return to Earth aboard the shuttle Discovery in mid to late February, their place taken by the Expedition Two crew, which will also spend about four months on the station.

The $60 billion space station is sponsored by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. When completed in 2006 it will have livable space equal to about three suburban homes and will be one of the brightest objects in the sky.

Endeavours's flight is the fifth and final flight of 2000. NASA has eight shuttle flights planned for 2001.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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International Space Station
Boeing: International Space Station
Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour (OV-105)
NASA
Kennedy Space Center

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