Space Shuttle Discovery

[Nashy]

Land it at Amberly. Whether is beautiful here in Brisbane today. I mean, its been yonks since the Yanks realised we were here.

[Hani]

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- "Unstable" weather conditions prompted NASA to scrub Discovery's scheduled landing Monday, the first space shuttle landing attempt since the Columbia disaster.

The next opportunity is scheduled for Tuesday at 5:07 a.m. ET at the Florida landing site.

"We've been working hard on this," said entry flight director Leroy Cain at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. "There continues to be a lower layer of clouds from 400 to 500 feet that's been scattered all evening."

The cloud cover, although within NASA's safety limits for landing, was enough to make mission controllers uncomfortable about attempting a Monday touchdown in Florida.

Commander Eileen Collins was given the scrub order from mission controllers at 5:05 a.m. ET.

"We just can't get comfortable with the stability of the situation for this particular opportunity. So we're going to officially wave you off for 24 hours," Ken Ham said at mission control.

"OK, Houston we copy that. We'll be a wave off for today," Collins responded.

Officials would prefer to land at Kennedy Space Center to avoid the inconvenience of flying the shuttle back to its launch site from alternative landing strips in California or New Mexico.

Mark Polanksi, a pilot during a 2001 mission aboard the shuttle Atlantis, said the waiting is easier for orbiting crew members than it is for their families.

"It's much harder for people on the ground," Polanski said. "Loved ones don't know when their people are coming home."

Polanski and astronaut Nicholas Patrick are assigned to a shuttle mission aboard Discovery in 2006. Patrick said the orbiting astronauts have more than enough supplies to keep them until they can return.

"In between powering down today and preparing for Tuesday's landing attempt, they'll be taking care of some housekeeping and perhaps finding more time to be looking out the windows," Patrick said.

Following the decision to remain in space another day, Discovery received permission to re-open its payload bay doors and began powering down systems that had been poised to fire engines to take it out of orbit.

During Tuesday's de-orbital burn, the spacecraft's engines will ignite for about three minutes, slowing it enough to begin its fiery journey through the atmosphere.

Discovery's pilot, astronaut James Kelly, said Sunday that returning to Earth is much like riding on a runaway train.

"Once we start re-entering the atmosphere, you start seeing the plasma go by the windows," Kelly said, referring to colorful, super-hot gases.

It's "a very exciting and exhilarating process that ends with being at home," said Kelly.

Though it launches into orbit like a rocket, the shuttle returns to Earth like an airplane. As it begins to transition from space, computer-controlled jets guide the shuttle. Once the atmosphere thickens, Discovery's wing flaps and rudder steer it much like they would a conventional aircraft.

When the shuttle slows below the speed of sound, it triggers a sonic boom that alerts Florida residents that the spacecraft is returning home.

It was during re-entry in February 2003 that Columbia broke apart, killing its seven crew members.

Investigators later determined that super-heated gases that normally surround the orbiter as it returns to Earth entered Columbia's left wing through a hole created when insulating foam fell from the shuttle's fuel tank and struck the vehicle during launch.

The Columbia break-up left a trail of debris across Texas and Louisiana and resulted in vows from NASA that tighter safety precautions would be taken on future trips -- and that the problem of falling foam would be solved.

Under new guidelines, Discovery will follow a trajectory that takes it largely over ocean.

Beginning with an orbital speed of about 17,500 mph, the shuttle is scheduled to enter the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean and glide over Nicaragua, Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico.

It then should pass over Florida's Lake Okeechobee and, moving at about 220 mph, touch down at the Kennedy Space Center.

Mission STS-114 largely was designed to improve safety on future shuttle journeys, although the program has been suspended while NASA investigates its failure to solve the problem of foam falling from the shuttle's external liquid fuel tank during launch.

Video from the July 26 launch showed debris falling from the fuel tank, but NASA said it did not appear to have struck the orbiter. Once in space, Discovery's crew used cameras to scrutinize the craft's exterior for possible damage that might pose a threat during re-entry.

The shuttle spent most of the mission docked to the international space station, delivering much-needed supplies and performing maintenance on the outpost.

Astronaut Steve Robinson performed an unprecedented shuttle repair mission by plucking two pieces of filler material protruding between tiles on Discovery's underside. NASA wanted them removed to ensure they wouldn't overheat, damaging Discovery's belly during re-entry.

Mission controllers said an additional spacewalk to fix a damaged thermal blanket under one of the cockpit windows was not necessary.

New Florida arrival set for 5:07 a.m. ET Tuesday

Source CNN

[Gowcra]

oh wel. maybe its for the best

[VLR]

I'm sorry but, they ain't gonna survive this one. :no:

[Koolslacker]

I am sorry to hear that, but I think as long as the mission is successful, it's all good.

[thisispete]

bad weather?

i heard all morning on the news that the weather was perfect?

[pimpshiznid]

bad weather?

i heard all morning on the news that the weather was perfect?

586344272[/snapback]

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findwe...Canaveral%2C+FL

63% chance of thunderstorms sure as heck don't look perfect. :p

[bigbluepride35]

There isn't too much danger for the shuttle as far as being stuck in space because of weather.

There are many places in the world where it can land.  There are several airports, all over the world, with runways that can accomodate a landing shuttle.

If they have to come down, they will have a place to land no matter what.

586343888[/snapback]

They said tomorrow they'll have opportunities at Kennedy in FL and Edwards AFB in CA and a shot in Mexico (forgot the name of the airfield). Two shots a piece at FL and CA and don't know how many at the Mexican site.

[Pulaski]

Bumme rit is delayed. I hoep nothing happens. Is the 24 hour delay mean theyw ill fly in at the same time tomorrow... 4 in the morning?

[Hani]

pimpshiznid, first time I see an IRC Mod :p

[+chorpeac MVC]

Better to be safe than sorry...they just want to make sure this one is a textbook landing...

[webeagle12]

I'm sorry but, they ain't gonna survive this one. :no:

586344247[/snapback]

what to hell are u talking about :blink:

[VLR]

what to hell are u talking about  :blink:

586344968[/snapback]

With all the repair they had to do,... I'm a bit hopeless. :(

[bigbluepride35]

There was low cloud cover that concerned them.

With all the repair they had to do,...? I'm a bit hopeless.:((

586344976[/snapback]

Well in the past they probably would have never even KNOWN about half of the problems and landed fine. We have to remember this was the most videotaped and scrutinized flight ever. They've landed in the past with that filler material sticking out. And maybe I'm wrong but wasn't the procedure to remove the filler the only repair to the shuttle itself? Weren't the rest planned repairs to the space station?

O and https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=355388&st=45

Edited August 8, 2005 by bigbluepride35

[j.nudd]

They said tomorrow they'll have opportunities at Kennedy in FL and Edwards AFB in CA and a shot in Mexico (forgot the name of the airfield). Two shots a piece at FL and CA and don't know how many at the Mexican site.

586344460[/snapback]

I believe it is something along the lines of Whitesboro? I also think they have one shot at landing there, but am not positive. I woke up at 2am CDT to watch and don't remember everthing I saw :laugh:

[2xSilverKnight]

it has been delayed .. damn

i just woke up :sleep:

[Fred Derf Veteran]

[Thread Moved from GD to NFN]

[Threads Merged]

[bigbluepride35]

I believe it is something along the lines of Whitesboro? I also think they have one shot at landing there, but am not positive. I woke up at 2am CDT to watch and don't remember everthing I saw :laugh:

586345068[/snapback]

Whitesand Space Harbor, they just said on NASA TV and yeah it's only one shot there and at Cali. My mistake earlier.

edit> Nope, I was right originally, TWO shots at Cali, too. Just saw it on NASA TV.

Edited August 8, 2005 by bigbluepride35

[Xeonic]

Alright...so attempt number 2. Who's watching?

[bigbluepride35]

Alright...so attempt number 2. Who's watching?

586346186[/snapback]

I will be :yes: (assuming I can make the ridiculous early wake-up again lol)

[bigbluepride35]

Whitesand Space Harbor, they just said on NASA TV and yeah it's only one shot there and at Cali. My mistake earlier.

edit> Nope, I was right originally, TWO shots at Cali, too. Just saw it on NASA TV.

586345185[/snapback]

Not Mexico, NEW Mexico. My mistake. I was thinking to myself "Why on earth would Mexico have a landing stirp accessible to a space shuttle. And it's 2 at Kennedy, 2 at Edwards, and 1 at Whitesand. Thank you NASA TV.

Sorry about the double post :blush: I thought it was too long to edit my last one.

[bigbluepride35]

Opportunity #1 was a "no go." :no:

[amr_01]

i think they'll no-go the second one too. i'm sure they're going to land in cali.

they said the reason is that a rain drop hitting the shuttle at over 400 mph can put a dent in the tiles. that's potentially thousands of tiles that would need replacing after landing. to me, it's a good idea to be more cautious about this.

[da13ro]

Due to mild cloud cover over the runway wasnt it? Is it just me that thinks it was a bit of a conspiracy, maybe there just playing safe. Who no's, sparked up a fair amount of hype though!

[Fedorpheux]

one thing that i find kind of interesting is all of these people are freaking out about the safety concerns and how horrible nasa is for the disasters such as challenger and columbia and how the entire shuttle program needs to be redone and/or shut down and a whole new program needs to be thought of...

all of this, while at the same time, the current administration is not being very generous at all with the funding to NASA, probably because they're busy spending somewhere approaching $200 billion on Iraq, oh and by the way we happen to be approaching 2,000 casualties of american soldiers over there....

i really dont like getting all politcally jazzed up too often, but i couldn't help myself on this one...