Cape Canaveral, Fla. – Rain and low clouds prevented Atlantis from returning to Florida on Thursday, but mission managers were hopeful the space shuttle would be able to touch down a day later, even if it meant landing in California.
During Atlantis’ two chances to land, showers were within 34 miles of the landing strip at Kennedy Space Center, and clouds hung below an altitude of 8,000 feet, both violations of flight rules.
Mission managers today will activate the shuttle’s backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California. There will be three chances for the shuttle to land at Edwards today, although winds were expected to be too strong for the last two.
The shuttle has five chances today to land in either Florida or California, the first at 12:18 p.m. MDT in Florida and the last at 4:59 p.m. MDT in California. If the weather spoils all those opportunities, mission managers would activate another backup landing site in New Mexico and try for Saturday.
Atlantis has enough power for its systems to orbit until Sunday, but managers want the shuttle to land by Saturday. The flight would be extended to Sunday only if there were technical problems that needed to be fixed.
NASA managers prefer landing at Kennedy, which would make it easier and cheaper to prepare Atlantis for its next mission in December. It would cost $1.7 million and take up to 10 days to bring the shuttle back to Florida from California aboard a jumbo jet.
Arc of Atlantis
If it does not land today, space shuttle Atlantis will be visible from Denver at 9:36 tonight for three minutes. Look 22 degrees above the horizon to the west for its appearance. Atlantis will arc toward the south-southeast, rising a maximum of 35 degrees above the horizon, and disappear from view at 18 degrees above the horizon.
Source: NASA (spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings)
