Astronaut Crew Makes Rainy Florida Arrival

The crew of the STS-123 space shuttle crew makes a late, rainy arrival to the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. From left to right: Garret Reisman, Takao Doi, Gregory H. Johnson, Dominic Gorie, Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan and Robert Behnken. CREDIT: Dave Mosher, SPACE.com

CAPE CANAVERAL — Tornado-generating thunderstorms sliced across the Florida peninsula Friday, delaying the arrival of NASA's seven-astronaut crew set to launch Tuesday aboard space shuttle Endeavour.

The astronaut crew touched down here at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 1:30 a.m. EST (0630 GMT) Saturday morning — more than four hours after their scheduled Friday evening arrival time. During a break between torrential downpours, Dominic Gorie, veteran spaceflyer and commander of the STS-123 International Space Station (ISS) construction mission, quickly addressed members of the press.

"Thank you all for … welcoming us here in this wonderful weather we've got," Gorie said. "I think when we get the weather done with here today, we're going to have a nice shot at launching."

Delaying the crew's arrival helped the astronauts avoid flying through most of the severe weather during a short journey from Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA spokespeople at KSC said. The band of storms generated more than 10 tornadoes Friday, according to National Weather Service reports, injuring dozens and reportedly killing one.

In spite of the delay, NASA spokespeople said the change of plans should not interfere with the crew's 2:28 a.m. EST (0628 GMT) launch toward the space station on March 11. A glitch with one of Endeavour's UHF radios, used to communicate during launch and landing, is also not expected to interfere with mission plans because two backups exist, mission managers said Friday morning.

Wet Welcome

Amid the rain and lightning, Gorie was joined by pilot Gregory H. Johnson and mission specialists Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan and Garrett Reisman at NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility.

Mission specialist Takao Doi, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's astronaut, also stepped onto the flooded tarmac to before members of the press.

The STS-123 crew is slated to add a new Japanese pressurized module and a two-armed robot named Dextre to the space station, as well as deliver and test a suite of experiments on orbit during five planned spacewalks.

Endeavour's anticipated Tuesday launch will be as NASA's second of six space shuttle missions planned for 2008 — three more than the agency successfully launched last year. Scheduled to last at least 16 days, the mission will also be the longest ever attempted during a space station construction flight.

"We've got a very, very ambitious flight schedule," Gorie said, "but with a great orbiter waiting for us and this great crew, we're going to have a great mission."

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