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Space shuttle leaves orbit, heading to California

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 06:18 CDT

By Irene Klotz and Deborah Zabarenko

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The crew of space shuttle Discovery fired the spaceship's braking rockets to leave orbit on Tuesday and headed to California for the first shuttle landing attempt since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

With good weather forecast for an 8:12 a.m. EDT (1212 GMT) touchdown at the backup landing site in California's Mojave Desert, shuttle commander Eileen Collins fired Discovery's twin engines for 2 minutes and 42 seconds, slowing the ship so that it could begin an hour-long free-fall back to Earth.

The shuttle was flying upside-down and backward over the Indian Ocean when it left its 205 mile high orbit after a 14-day mission that included nine days at the International Space Station.

"How do you feel about a beautiful, clear night with a breeze down the runway in the high desert of California?" astronaut Ken Ham radioed from Mission Control in Houston to shuttle commander Eileen Collins, after NASA decided to divert the planned landing from Florida to California landing.

"We are ready for whatever we need to do," Collins replied.

NASA had scheduled Discovery's homecoming for Monday but cloudy skies at the shuttle's home port in Florida forced postponement until Tuesday.

Rainshowers near the prime landing site at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday prompted flight directors to divert Discovery to Edwards Air Force Base in California. Light winds and clear skies were forecast.

EXTRA EXPENSE

Landing in California means NASA will spend an extra $1 million and an extra week of processing time to ferry Discovery across country to Florida on the back of a specially modified 747 jet. The space agency had wanted to have Discovery ready to serve as an emergency rescue ship for shuttle Atlantis, which was to be launched as early as Sept. 22.

NASA had Collins adjust the shuttle's orbit so that Discovery would not fly over the most heavily populated areas of Los Angeles in case of another accident. During the last shuttle landing, Columbia broke apart on re-entry, showering Texas and Louisiana with debris.

Discovery's touchdown will be NASA's first since losing shuttle Columbia 16 minutes before its planned landing on Feb. 1, 2003. The accident killed all seven astronauts.

Discovery blasted off on July 26 after NASA spent more than $1 billion to fix problems uncovered after the Columbia disaster.

Engineers were most concerned with preventing large pieces of foam insulation from falling off the shuttle's fuel tank and striking the orbiter, the problem that doomed Columbia.

The fuel tank on Discovery failed its first test-flight, shedding several large pieces of foam during the liftoff. Discovery, however, was not believed to have been hit by the large chunks of debris.

NASA immediately grounded the shuttle fleet until the problems with the tank are fixed.

Other safety upgrades tested during Discovery's flight were more successful, including a laser imaging system mounted on a 50-foot (15-meter) extension boom to the shuttle's robot arm.

Astronauts also tried out a new way to photograph heat-resistant tiles on the shuttle's belly from the International Space Station. The Discovery crew also tested techniques to fix wing panels and thermal tiles in orbit and made the shuttle program's first in-flight heat shield repair.

NASA extended the Discovery crew's stay at the station from eight to nine days to transfer extra supplies when it became evident Atlantis' mission to the station likely would be delayed while engineers work on the fuel tank problem.

(Additional reporting by Jim Loney in Cape Canaveral)

Source: REUTERS

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