Throng Likely for Landing

More than 200,000 spectators are expected at Edwards Air Force Base on Monday for the scheduled landing of the space shuttle Discovery at 9:37 a.m.

Traffic is expected to be heavy, and visitors are advised to allow plenty of time to arrive at the viewing site. The site is about 3 1/2 miles from the 7 1/2-mile-long runway on Rogers Dry Lake, where Discovery is to touch down.

Access to the visitors’ area will be closed one hour before touchdown. For early birds--and there are usually at least a few thousand--the gates to the visitors’ site will open about 24 hours ahead of time, about 9:30 this morning.

The viewing site is about a 70-mile drive from downtown Los Angeles. To get there, drive north on the Antelope Valley Freeway to Avenue F, go east on F to Sierra Highway, north to Avenue E, east on E to 140th Street east, north on 140th to Avenue B, east on B to Mercury Boulevard and north on Mercury to the viewing site.