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Discovery crew readies for pre-dawn return to Earth after one-day delay
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  • CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AFP) Aug 08, 2005
    Discovery's crew prepared to return to Earth before dawn Tuesday after bad visibility over the runway delayed by a nerve-wracking day the return of the first space shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

    The decision to keep the astronauts in orbit for an extra day was the latest in a series of disappointments for the crew who had admitted they would have the deaths of their Columbia colleagues during their homebound journey.

    While the shuttle could remain in orbit until Wednesday, NASA managers are determined to bring back the shuttle and the seven astronauts on Tuesday.

    Ideally, the orbiter would land at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:07Tuesday. If clouds again affect the view of the Florida seashore runway, NASA could tell the crew to wait another 96 minutes before initiating their critical hourlong journey through the Earth's atmosphere.

    Should a Florida touchdown prove impossible, Discovery still has two landing opportunities Tuesday at the Edwards Air Base in California, and another two at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

    NASA's decision to postpone Monday's landing came only minutes before the crew was set to start re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, the critical stage when Columbia burst into flames and disintegrated on February 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.

    "You guys made the right decisions. We are right with you. We are going to enjoy another day in orbit," Discovery Commander Eileen Collins told mission control.

    Collins said earlier she had no worries about the return to Earth as the orbiter was in great shape.

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration managers also hailed the "return to flight" mission as a complete success.

    But Discovery will be grounded with the other two remaining shuttles in the fleet because its mission revealed that NASA had failed to resolve the problems with debris falling off during liftoff that had doomed Columbia

    The mission was largely designed to test changes made to the shuttle since the Columbia disaster, including improvements meant to prevent insulating foam from breaking off during launch.

    The crew carried out emergency repairs in orbit, and there were concerns that a tear to a thermal blanket just outside Collins's cockpit could pose a new danger. But NASA officials said the return would be safe.

    They also said the orbiter suffered no significant damage when foam insulation fell off its external fuel tank as the shuttle blasted into orbit on July 26.

    The same problem doomed Columbia, as the debris hit the orbiter's left wing, causing a crack that eventually allowed superheated gases to penetrate the structure upon re-entry into the atmosphere.

    As it plunges through the atmosphere, the shuttle's speed drops from nearly 29,000 kilometers (18,000 miles) per hour in orbit to about 350 kph (220 mph) at touchdown.

    The mission had been scheduled to last 12 days, but an extra day was added so the crew could transfer as much material and provisions as possible to the International Space Station, amid uncertainty over the date of the next shuttle flight.

    The crew also retrieved waste and equipment to clear out space in the cramped orbiting lab.

    During the mission, Stephen Robinson became the first astronaut to carry out a spacewalk under the shuttle, to extract two protruding pieces of fiber that risked overheating during re-entry.

    In another two spacewalks, Robinson and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi tested repair techniques adopted after the Columbia tragedy and replaced one of the space station's four gyroscopes.




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