CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Seven astronauts and NASA's space shuttle Endeavour are due
to return to Earth today after a successful construction flight cut short a day
by earlier concerns over Hurricane Dean.
Commanded
by veteran shuttle flyer Scott Kelly, Endeavour's STS-118 astronaut crew is set
to land here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 12:32 p.m. EDT (1632 GMT) to
conclude a 13-day
assembly mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
"Hopefully,
we'll have acceptable weather and a really good day," Kelly told Mission
Control Monday.
Strong
crosswinds and a slight chance of rain within about 34 miles (54 kilometers) of
NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility are the only threats to Endeavour's planned
landing. NASA has two opportunities to return the shuttle and its crew today,
with the second occurring at 2:06 p.m. EDT (1806 GMT).
"I
think we have a pretty good chance for this time of year," said Steve
Stich, NASA's launch and entry flight director for Endeavour's flight, in a
Monday briefing. "I'm pretty optimistic."
Stich said
Endeavour and its crew are primed for today's landing, and reiterated that a small,
deep gouge in the orbiter's underbelly will pose no risk to the spacecraft
during reentry. The ding, he added, will likely have little impact in
Endeavour's refurbishment for a planned February 2008 mission.
NASA is
looking into possible fixes for the fuel tank foam that caused the damage,
shuttle officials said Monday.
Returning
to Earth with Kelly are Endeavour pilot Charlie Hobaugh, teacher-turned-spaceflyer
Barbara Morgan and her fellow mission specialists Tracy Caldwell, Rick
Mastracchio, Alvin Drew, Jr. and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Dave Williams.
The seven
astronauts successfully repaired a broken ISS gyroscope, delivered more than
two tons of cargo and installed a new spare parts platform along with an $11 million
starboard-side girder at the orbital laboratory during their mission.
Morgan,
NASA's backup for Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe before the 1986 Challenger
tragedy, left pair of expandable plant growth chambers and basil seeds aboard
the ISS for station astronauts to cultivate as part an educational program.
Returning
home
Endeavour
is landing one day
earlier than planned due to measures taken late last week to ensure that
NASA's Mission Control operations in Houston, Texas were not interrupted by Hurricane
Dean. At the time, it appeared the massive storm could swing north to hit
coastal Texas and prompt an evacuation of Mission Control.
As of late
Monday, however, the storm was continuing on a course towards central Mexico,
according to the National Hurricane Center.
"Hurricane
Dean is kind of trending away, so we don't think that's going to be a
factor," NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson told Endeavour's crew from Mission
Control Monday.
By
coincidence, should Endeavour wave off its first landing attempt today, the
100-ton spacecraft would pass over Hurricane Dean at an altitude of about
180,000 feet (54,864 meters) for the 2:06 p.m. EDT (1806 GMT) touchdown, NASA
said. But its astronaut crew would not be able to see the storm through
Endeavour's windows due to the shuttle's flight path, the space agency added.
NASA has
the capability of landing Endeavour at a backup runway at California's Edwards
Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert today, but will likely forgo that option
and wait for Wednesday should a Florida touchdown prove untenable this
afternoon, Stich said.
By landing
in Florida, NASA can cut down the amount of time required to prepare an orbiter
for its next flight, as well as save about $1.7 million in extra costs
associated with hauling a shuttle across the U.S. to its Florida launch site.
Stich said
preparing for today's landing has been considerably more palatable than pondering
the earlier implications of Hurricane Dean.
"It's
much more like a normal landing day," he said.
NASA is
broadcasting Endeavour's STS-118 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for mission updates and
SPACE.com's NASA TV feed.
advertisement
