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."
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.
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