spacetoday.net: Shuttle lands at Edwards

Posted: Sun, Nov 30, 2008, 7:59 PM ET (0059 GMT)
STS-126: landing at Edwards (NASA/DFRC)

The space shuttle Endeavour landed safely Saturday afternoon in California after weather diverted the shuttle from a Florida landing. Endeavour touched down on runway 4L at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert at 4:25 pm EST (2125 GMT), wrapping up the STS-126 mission over 15 days and 20 hours after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour was scheduled to land earlier in the day at KSC, but poor weather there and in the forecast led shuttle managers to have the shuttle land at Edwards rather than remain in orbit an extra day. Because the runway normally used at Edwards for shuttle landings had been recently repaired, Endeavour landed on an alternative runway nearly 1,000 meters shorter, but the orbiter rolled to a stop with room to spare. The Edwards landing will add about a week of processing time and cost over $1 million, but is not expected to impact Endeavour's next mission next year. The next shuttle mission, the launch of Discovery on STS-119, is scheduled for February 2009.