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NASA Skips Discovery's 1st Landing Attempt

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

SPACE CENTER, Houston - NASA ordered the astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery to bypass the first landing opportunity of the day on Tuesday because of stormy weather off the Florida coast.

"At this time, we're going to ask you guys to watch the earth go by for one more rev," or revolution, Mission Control told shuttle commander Eileen Collins. "We do appreciate your patience and good humor with the situation."

The agency had a second landing opportunity in Florida at 6:43 a.m. EDT, 90 minutes after the first.

If the weather did not improve for the second opportunity, flight controllers planned to land the shuttle in California.

"All we can do is watch it and hope that it gets more stable," Mission Control said of the weather.

Collins said the crew was familiar with Florida storms and was "not surprised at all."

"I've been in your shoes many times so I understand," Collins said.

Earlier, the astronauts had powered up their spacecraft and closed Discovery's payload bay doors as they awaited word on which, if any, of several landing opportunities they would attempt.

"We sure hope we get our feet on the ground today," astronaut Wendy Lawrence radioed after Mission Control roused the astronauts late Monday with the Beatles song "Good Day Sunshine."

Controllers said the song was appropriate after the crew had to abandon two attempts to return Monday when clouds obscured the runway at the Kennedy Space Center.

Flight Director LeRoy Cain was confident he would get the crew to Florida or one of two alternate sites.

"We will attempt to land somewhere," Cain said.

The space center remained NASA's first choice for an early morning touchdown. Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert was the next choice, and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was a distant third.

Good conditions were expected at Edwards, while rain was in the forecast for White Sands.

NASA prefers landing shuttles at the same place where it launches them, to avoid the several days and estimated $1 million needed to ferry the spacecraft back from the West Coast atop a modified jumbo jet.

Monday's delay disappointed astronauts' families, who anxiously awaited Discovery's return. The mission, originally intended to last 12 days, has now spanned 14.

Discovery has enough fuel and supplies to stay in orbit until Wednesday, but NASA wants to hold out that option only if a technical problem arises.

Discovery is the first shuttle to return to orbit since Columbia's catastrophic re-entry in 2003. But Discovery's launch and flight to the international space station could be the last for a long while.

NASA grounded the shuttle fleet after a nearly 1-pound chunk of insulating foam broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during its July 26 liftoff - the very thing that doomed Columbia and was supposed to have been corrected.

Discovery spent nine days hitched to the space station, where astronauts resupplied the orbiting lab and removed broken equipment and trash - one of the main goals of the mission.

Another day was added to the mission when NASA grounded its fleet so astronauts could do additional work on the station. Discovery was the first shuttle to visit the orbiting outpost since 2002.

As a result of Columbia, Discovery's crew performed intense inspections of their ship on five different days. Astronauts also did a spacewalk to test new repair techniques and replaced a failed gyroscope on the station during another spacewalk.

In a third, unprecedented spacewalk, two protruding thermal tile fillers were removed from Discovery's belly. Engineers feared the material could cause dangerous overheating during re-entry.

Columbia was doomed by a 1.67-pound piece of foam that broke free from an external fuel tank at launch. The foam pierced a hole in the ship's left wing, and as the spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, searing gases melted the wing from the inside. All seven astronauts aboard were killed.

Former shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden said there comes a time when every astronaut is ready to return home - no matter how risky the ride.

"You always want to stay in space. You don't ever want to come home, but you invariably get homesick," he said. "With every orbit that you don't come home, it gets more and more frustrating."

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On the Net:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/main/index.html

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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