spacetoday.net: Weather delays shuttle landing

Posted: Wed, Dec 4, 2002, 8:50 PM ET (0150 GMT)
STS-113 pach (NASA)

The space shuttle Endeavour will remain in orbit at least one more day after cloudy weather forced NASA to delay Wednesday's scheduled landing of the orbiter. NASA had hoped to land the shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center during one of two landing opportunities Wednesday afternoon, but a deck of low, broken clouds appeared less than an hour before Endeavour was scheduled to perform a deorbit burn for the first landing opportunity. NASA is currently planning to try again Thursday, with two landings opportunities scheduled for 2:54 and 4:30 pm EST (1954 and 2130 GMT), but the forecast does not look promising, with the possibility that poor weather could continue through Friday. The shuttle has enough supplies to remain in orbit until Sunday. NASA would like to land the shuttle in Florida as opposed to Edwards Air Force Base in California to avoid the additional cost and time involved with transporting the orbiter cross-country, but may have to consider a California landing by Saturday if weather conditions in Florida do not improve.