NASA watching weather as shuttle landing nears

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NASA watching

weather as shuttle landing nears

POSTED: 9:31 p.m. EST, December 20, 2006

Story

Highlights

• Shuttle's robotic arm scanning heat shield

• NASA managers unsure where and when Discovery will land Friday

• NASA would like to land the shuttle at Kennedy Space Center,

Florida

• Discovery must land Saturday or it will run out of the fuel that supplies its

electricity

 

HOUSTON, Texas

(AP) -- Astronauts swept across space shuttle Discovery's exterior with

remote-controlled cameras Wednesday as NASA managers pondered which site would

be best for landing Friday.

The Discovery crew used cameras on the shuttle's robotic arm

and a 50-foot boom to look for damage.

NASA engineers will examine the photos before deciding as

early as Thursday whether to clear the spaceship for landing.

" So far everything is looking good, " said Phil Engelauf, chief

of the flight director's office. " The systems on the vehicle

are performing well. The vehicle is healthy. The crew is in good shape. "

Since the Columbia disaster nearly four years ago, such

close inspections have become routine, both after liftoff and right before

landing.

Discovery's seven astronauts also released two small,

experimental satellites Wednesday as NASA managers debated where the shuttle

should land.

Agency officials would like the shuttle to glide to

its usual home at Kennedy Space Center to save NASA the time and cost of shipping it to Florida from

either of the backup sites in California and New

Mexico.

But low clouds and possible showers were in the

forecast at Kennedy, and gusty winds were expected at the primary backup,

Edwards Air Force Base in California.

That left a site at White Sands, New Mexico,

with the best weather forecast for landing Friday, even though it has been used

in such a capacity only once, in 1982.

NASA has been reluctant to use the New Mexico landing site

because it lacks crucial equipment.

If Discovery landed in New Mexico, NASA would have to ship

heavy equipment there, including a crane to hoist the shuttle atop a jetliner

for the trip back to Florida and devices that control the shuttle's temperature

and electrical systems on the ground.

Those steps would delay the shuttle's return to Florida by

more than a month, compared with a week from Edwards Air Force Base.

During the New Mexico landing in 1982, fine sand on the

runway contaminated the orbiter, and the brakes were damaged.

" More than likely, we will evaluate the conditions on a

case-by-case basis on Friday and pick the lesser of evils, " Engelauf said.

Discovery had been scheduled to land Thursday, but an unplanned fourth spacewalk

during the shuttle's visit to the international space station pushed back the

landing by a day.

During Discovery's eight days at the space station,

astronauts rewired the orbiting outpost, installed a new $11 million section,

retracted a stubborn solar array and rotated out a space station crew member.

NASA wants the shuttle on the ground no later than

Saturday because the fuel that generates electricity on the spacecraft

will run out.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/12/20/space.shuttle.ap/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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