Weather forces Discovery to delay landing
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-08 16:34

After orbiting the Earth for 13 days, astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery were told to circle the planet once more early Monday as NASA delayed their landing because of bad weather in Florida, the Associated Press reported.

The astronauts had powered up their spacecraft and were awaiting word from Mission Control to fire their braking rockets and head for home.

LeRoy Cain, the ascent/descent flight director for Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS114, addresses the media during a status briefing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston August 7, 2005. Discovery astronauts gave their spacecraft a final inspection on Sunday and said they were confident of a safe return to Earth on the first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster. [Reuters]

But NASA ordered the shuttle to put off its landing by at least 90 minutes because of low clouds over Cape Canaveral. The seven astronauts were advised to try for a second opportunity at 6:21 a.m. EDT in hopes the sky would clear.

Discovery, the first shuttle to return to orbit since Columbia disintegrated while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere 2 1/2 years ago, was set to land at Florida's Kennedy Space Center before dawn.

If weather prevents the shuttle from landing Monday, the flight would be extended by one day. On Tuesday, flight controllers could consider two alternative landing sites, in addition to the space center.

The accident was on many minds, but Flight Director LeRoy Cain said his focus would be on bringing Discovery back safely.

"There's a lot of things to think about," said Cain, who was also director for Columbia's fatal flight on Feb. 1, 2003. "There's a lot of things to worry about, and that's what I get paid to do is to worry — and I do it a lot."

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