A 'beautiful, glowing, colorful planet'

The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis spent Thanksgiving getting ready for Friday's landing. The astronauts checked the flight systems and learned Atlantis was cleared for re-entry, following Wednesday's survey of the wings and nose.

Among the astronauts about to return to Earth is Clearwater native Nicole Stott. She has been in space for three months, and she spoke with FOX 13's Russell Rhodes Thursday morning as she and the rest of the crew prepared for the trip home.

Stott says she leaves space with mixed feelings.

"I was sad to leave the space station and my crewmates there…but I'm getting to go home and see my family and I'm really excited," she said.

Stott described what it was like to see the Earth from space, a sight she says she couldn't have been prepared for.

Here is what she had to say about the view so few have ever experienced first hand:

"It really is indescribable. I was always impressed by the photographs I would see from the other astronauts that had flown before me, and that was incredibly beautiful. But you are just not prepared for it the first time you see it. And for me that was out of the windows of Discovery."

"The black of space, it's blacker than anything I'd seen before, and it's just highlighted by this beautiful glowing, colorful planet and I just wasn't ready for it. It was something that stayed with me the entire time I was on station."

"I would look out the window, I would be impressed again by just how wonderful it is, and fortunately I got the bug for taking pictures of it…I hope that I have captured in some way what I've seen. I honestly doubt it."

*****

Good landing weather was forecast for Friday's scheduled 9:44 a.m. touchdown. You can watch the landing here on MyFoxTampaBay.com on our live NASA feed:

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/subindex/live/nasa_feed