Astronauts Pack Up Amid Mixed Feelings

Thrilled with their remodeling job at the international space station, Discovery’s astronauts packed up the space shuttle for a weekend ride home. They had mixed emotions about ending their successful space station construction mission, officials at the Kennedy Space Center said. “It’s a wonderful feeling to look out into the payload bay” and see the new space station pieces gone, pilot Pamela Melroy said. On the other hand, she said, it will be sad to disband the crew, which trained together for three years. “Is there a little bit of sadness?” commander Brian Duffy asked. “Yeah, you bet there is.” The shuttle is due to land in Florida this afternoon.