Discovery may be late
Source: Agencies |
April 19, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AMERICAN space agency NASA warned shuttle Discovery's astronauts yesterday to expect rain delays as they wrapped up their two-week mission and prepared to come home.
Discovery and its crew of seven were scheduled to land today at NASA's Florida spaceport.
Shuttle commander Alan Poindexter said yesterday he enjoys spending extra time in orbit and doesn't mind if Discovery can't make it back to Earth until tomorrow.
Mission Control promised to keep monitoring the weather in case the forecast improved. In the worst case, Discovery could always aim for the backup landing site in Southern California tomorrow.
Poindexter and his crew are returning from the International Space Station after stockpiling it with supplies, science experiments and extra spare parts, including a tank full of ammonia coolant.
Providing Florida's weather cooperates, Discovery will crisscross much of the United States during re-entry, zooming in from the Pacific Northwest. For safety reasons, NASA typically prefers to bring a space shuttle home from the southwest, up over the South Pacific, Central America and the Gulf of Mexico.
It's a lesson NASA learned the hard way in 2003, when Columbia shattered over Texas during re-entry. All seven astronauts were killed, but remarkably no one was hurt on the ground by the wreckage.
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