Shuttle Astronauts Hope for Friday Landing After Delay

The seven astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery are hoping for a break in Florida?s stormy weather so they can land Friday evening, but they may end up in California if conditions stay grim.

Strong winds and rain kept Discovery from landing Thursday at NASA?s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and forced the astronauts to spend a bonus day in space. The shuttle?s first chance to return home today comes is at 5:48 p.m. EDT (2148 GMT) in Florida, though rain and high winds are expected again.

"It's another great day in space and we hope the weather works out and we can get to land the space shuttle Discovery today,? shuttle commander Rick Sturckow radioed Mission Control this morning.

Discovery is returning to Earth to end a 14-day delivery mission to the International Space Station. The astronauts delivered a new crewmember to the station, as well as tons of supplies and science gear for the outpost?s six-person crew.

NASA entry flight director Richard Jones said he will activate a backup runway at the Edwards Air Force Base in California for today?s landing attempts, giving Discovery a total of four tries - two in Florida and two in California - to return home.

?We?ll kind of start slow and work our way in,? Mission Control radioed Sturckow on the landing plan late Thursday. ?If both KSC opportunities are no go, we?ll plan on landing at Edwards.?

NASA prefers to land space shuttles in Florida when possible because it is the orbiter fleet?s home port. Florida landings also avoid the extra week of transport time and $1.8 million in turnaround costs required to ferry shuttles home from California for their next mission. Discovery is due to fly to the space station again early next year to deliver more supplies.

Discovery launched late Aug. 28 and left the station with enough supplies to last through February. Among the major delivery items were an air-scrubbing device, a new astronaut bedroom, a pair of powerful science experiment racks and a treadmill named after TV comedian Stephen Colbert.

The treadmill was named after the comedian host of Comedy Central?s ?The Colbert Report? as a consolation prize after he won the naming rights to a new space station room in an online poll earlier this year. NASA opted to name the new room Tranquility after the Apollo 11 moon base, but rechristened the treadmill the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) for Stephen Colbert. The exercise gear is in more than 100 pieces and will be assembled by station astronauts later this month.

Returning to Earth on Discovery with Sturckow will be pilot Kevin Ford and mission specialists Danny Olivas, Jose Hernandez, Patrick Forrester, Tim Kopra and Christer Fuglesang - a Swedish astronaut representing the European Space Agency.

Kopra is returning home after nearly two months aboard the station and is bringing home Buzz Lightyear, a 12-inch Disney toy that has been in orbit for 15 months as part of an educational program. A tickertape parade at Walt Disney World in Florida awaits Lightyear upon his return to Earth.

?We are very happy to be in space another day even though it would have been very nice to see the families in Florida,? Sturckow said late Thursday after the first landing delay. ?We look forward to great success.?

• Image Gallery - Shuttle Discovery's Midnight Launch
• Video - Stephen Colbert to NASA: 'No Chubby Astronauts'
• SPACE.com Video Show - The ISS: Foothold on Forever

SPACE.com is providing complete coverage of Discovery's STS-128 mission to the International Space Station with Managing Editor Tariq Malik and Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in New York. Click here for shuttle mission updates and a link to NASA TV. Live landing coverage begins at 2 p.m. EDT.