CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Atlantis astronauts headed into the home stretch of a successful space station construction mission Monday, but stormy weather could dash plans to land here at Kennedy Space Center early Tuesday.
With five astronauts strapped into the shuttle's crew cabin, Atlantis is scheduled to touch down on a floodlit runway here at KSC at 12:37 a.m. EDT (0437 GMT) that day. The astronauts also will have a second chance to land at 2:14 a.m. EDT (0614 GMT).
But scattered rain showers and isolated thunderstorms could linger in the area, forcing the astronauts to stay aloft an extra day.
"The weather is a bit suspect," said NASA flight commentator Rob Navias. "Not the most pristine forecast."
NASA flight rules call for a shuttle landing to be waved off if rain creeps within 34.5 statute miles (55.2 kilometers) of KSC. And despite the forecast, a back-up landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California probably won't be called up to support Tuesday landing opportunities.
The reason: NASA prefers to land at KSC to avoid the $1 million cost of ferrying a shuttle back to Florida from California.
Launched July 12, the Atlantis astronauts docked at the International Space Station two days later and then carried out a week of construction work aimed at installing, activating and inaugurating a new $164 million airlock.Dubbed Quest, the two-room pressure chamber will enable station crews to carry out their own spacewalking assembly or repair work in the absence of a visiting shuttle.
Less than a day after departing the station, the Atlantis astronauts set out late Sunday to pack up their ship and test crucial landing systems in advance of the planned return to Earth.
Mission managers, meanwhile, were holding on to hopes that an approaching high-pressure system will push stormy weather out of the Cape Canaveral area in time to bring Atlantis and its four-man, one-woman crew home.
If not, the Atlantis astronauts will remain in orbit an additional day, heading for an 11:39 p.m. EDT Tuesday (0339 GMT Wednesday) return to KSC.
Forecasters say the weather is expected to improve dramatically for that opportunity, and the crew also would have another chance to land at 1:15 a.m. EDT (0515 GMT) Wednesday.
Atlantis has enough food, fuel and electrical power to remain in space until Thursday.
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