spacetoday.net: Weather delays shuttle landing

Posted: Thu, Jun 21, 2007, 8:23 PM ET (0023 GMT)
STS-117: patch (NASA)

Poor weather at the Kennedy Space Center forced NASA Thursday to delay the landing of the space shuttle Atlantis for 24 hours, and consider a possible landing in California. Two landing opportunities at KSC Thursday afternoon were skipped because of clouds and showers in the vicinity of the spaceport. NASA will attempt to land Atlantis on Friday instead, with two opportunities at KSC at 2:18 and 3:54 pm EDT (1818 and 1954 GMT). In addition, there will be three landing opportunities Friday at Edwards Air Force Base in California, a backup landing site, at 3:49, 5:24, and 6:59 pm EDT (1949, 2124, and 2259 GMT). Additional landing opportunities exist Saturday at those two sites as well as White Sands, New Mexico, should weather prevent a landing Friday. The shuttle has enough consumables to remain in orbit until Sunday.