Astronauts take day off as space mission winds down

HOUSTON, July 13 (Reuters) Astronauts on shuttle Discovery took time off today to enjoy the ride after they completed the main work of their planned 13-day spaceflight.

They were to give press interviews and prepare their Italian-built cargo module, known as Leonardo, for unberthing from the International Space Station tomorrow.

But generally it was a leisure day, with ''Off Duty'' written across the board on the schedule to the six crewmembers from Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Ground controllers, in a joking e-mail to the crew, suggested several games to pass the time, including ''who can toss the laptop furthest down the station before it bounces off the wall'' and ''a few appropriate computer games'' such as ''Asteroids, Space Invaders or Star Wars' Wing Commander.'' The e-mail reflected NASA's overall good mood as Discovery winds down from what the US space agency says has been a successful mission.

The shuttle suffered no significant damage during its July 4 launch, which was a key goal after the Columbia disaster in 2003 and signaled that NASA finally may have solved the falling fuel tank problem that doomed Columbia.

After the shuttle linked with the International Space Station on July 6, spacewalkers Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum repaired a transport system critical to completion of the half-finished, 100 billion dollar space outpost.

The two men performed three spacewalks in all, including a final one yesterday in which they tested techniques for repairing a damaged shuttle heat shield.

NASA has been focused on protecting and repairing the heat shield since Columbia's demise, which was caused by loose fuel tank insulation foam slamming into the wing heat shield at launch.

While returning to Earth 16 days later, hot atmospheric gases penetrated the spacecraft and destroyed it, causing the deaths of the seven astronauts on board.

After 1.3 billion dollars in safety upgrades, Discovery, making just the second shuttle flight since Columbia, lost only a few flecks of foam during launch. Extensive inspections with cameras and sensors have found no damage.

NASA has declared Discovery fit for its scheduled return to Earth on Monday, although there will be more inspections tomorrow and on Saturday.

Leonardo, which carried more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and equipment for the space station and has been reloaded with two tons of station trash and discards, was to be unhooked from the station tomorrow and returned to the shuttle's cargo bay.

On Saturday, Discovery will undock from the station as it readies to come home.

NASA hopes to resume space-station construction, which has been on hold since Columbia, with its next shuttle flight, scheduled for launch on August 28.

REUTERS SHB BST1835