spacetoday.net: Shuttle to remain in orbit another day

Posted: Tue, Jun 18, 2002, 12:26 PM ET (1626 GMT)
STS-111 patch (NASA)

Shuttle managers decided Tuesday morning to keep the shuttle Endeavour in orbit one more day because of poor weather conditions in Florida. NASA had hoped to land the shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center at either 11:55 am or 1:31 pm EDT (1555 or 1731 GMT) Tuesday, but, as expected, clouds and the threat of storms forces NASA to skip those landing attempts. NASA had considered landing the shuttle Tuesday at Edwards Air Force Base in California, but decided not to even though weather conditions would have been acceptable for at least one of the two landing opportunities there. NASA wants to land Endeavour in Florida if at all possible to avoid processing delays that could push back the orbiter’s next mission, scheduled for early October. The weather is forecast to be much better in Florida on Wednesday and also acceptable in California, so NASA will likely land the orbiter at one site or the other Wednesday. KSC landing opportunities Wednesday are at 10:52 am and 12:28 pm EDT (1452 and 1628 GMT), while Edwards opportunities are at 1:58, 3:34 and 5:10 pm EDT (1758, 1934, and 2110 GMT). Endeavour has enough supplied to remain in orbit through Thursday, if necessary.