spacetoday.net: High winds delay shuttle landing until Monday

Updated: Sun, Feb 18, 2001, 1:56 PM ET (1856 GMT)
Originally Posted: Sun, Feb 18, 2001, 12:35 PM ET (1735 GMT)
NASA has postponed the landing of the shuttle Atlantis until Monday because of high crosswinds at the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle was set to begin a deorbit burn at 11:46 am EST (1646 GMT) Sunday to permit a landing at KSC at 12:53 pm EST (1753 GMT); however, Mission Control gave the "no go" at 11:20 am EST (1620 GMT) as crosswinds exceeded a maximum allowed speed of about 28 kmph. A second landing attempt was scheduled for 2:28 pm EST (1928 GMT), but that was also waved off at around 12:45 pm EST (1745 GMT) because of the high winds. Two landing attempts are scheduled for Monday at 1:26 pm and 3:02 pm EST (1826 and 2002 GMT). Conditions are forecast to be better on Monday, with lighter winds but the possibility of increased cloud cover. The backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, California, usually activated when weather delays a landing attempt in Florida, may not be available because of poor weather there as well.