Weather Could Delay Shuttle Landing

Jun 20, 10:49 PM

Current Headlines: By Martin Merzer, The Miami Herald

Jun. 21--Mission managers declared shuttle Atlantis fit to return to Earth on Thursday, but a higher authority -- nature -- might give the seven astronauts an extra day in space.

"The Atlantis crew is just doing fantastic and they're clearly ready for their return to the Kennedy Space Center," Norm Knight, a NASA flight controller, said Wednesday evening.

The crew concurred.

"Everything looks great," said shuttle Commander Rick Sturckow.

Atlantis has two landing opportunities Thursday at the space center in Central Florida -- 1:55 and 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Forecasters, however, are predicting scattered thunderstorms and thick cloud cover, conditions that could require postponements.

In that case, NASA would try again Friday, mustering ground crews at the space center and at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The strong preference, however, is to land at Kennedy, which avoids an expensive, time-consuming effort to ferry the shuttle from the West Coast to Florida.

"Obviously, we prefer to stay at the Cape if we can do it," Knight said.

If necessary, attempts also could be made during the weekend, though the shuttle must land by Sunday or risk running out of breathable air and other necessities.

Whenever it comes, landing will end a mission to the International Space Station that included the installation of new solar power units, the in-orbit repair of a scrap of Atlantis' insulation and the successful rebooting of the station's balky computers.

"We came up here and got the job done," Sturckow said.

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