This
story was updated at 4:02 p.m. EDT.
NASA has
ordered astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery to switch to a backup runway
in California for their planned landing Friday due to persistent storms in
Florida that made a return to their home port impossible.
Discovery had
two chances to set down today on its primary runway at the Kennedy Space Center
(KSC) in Florida, but thunderstorms near the shuttle's landing strip kept the
spacecraft at bay. The astronauts now hope to land at 8:53 p.m. EDT
(0053 Sept. 12 GMT) at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.
"We do appreciate
everybody that worked the weather so hard in Florida and we appreciate the
families making the trip down," shuttle commander Rick Sturckow radioed Mission
Control after hearing the news. "But it doesn't look like it's going to work
out for today so we'll set up for Edwards."
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.
Shuttle
entry flight director Richard Jones activated the 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) because weather conditions at both sites were expected to deteriorate on Saturday.
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.
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.
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