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Weather delays Atlantis return for another day: NASA
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Weather delays Atlantis return for another day: NASA
AFP - Sunday, May 24
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AFP) - - Heavy cloud cover and crosswinds forced the US space agency to put off the space shuttle Atlantis' return to Earth for at least another day, extending an otherwise successful mission to repair the Hubble telescope.
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NASA had hoped to land the shuttle Saturday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but the weather did not cooperate, waving off landing for a second straight day. The crew has enough fuel to fly until Monday at the latest.
The US space agency has prepared Edwards Air Force Base in California as a back-up landing point in case conditions do not clear up in Florida.
"There's a chance for a landing at Kennedy tomorrow, and we're going to keep that option open," said Greg Johnson, a NASA spokesman. "Edwards remains good for tomorrow and Monday, if needed."
The first chance to land at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday is at 10:11 am EDT (1411 GMT), he said.
NASA would prefer to land the shuttle in Florida as it would cost the agency some two million dollars (1.4 million euros) extra to get the craft back home from California.
Atlantis blasted off on May 11 with a crew of seven astronauts on what was scheduled to be an 11-day mission to repair the Hubble space telescope and extend its range and life for another five years.
"They have enough supplies to stay on board until Monday. But we don't like to wait until the last moment," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said after the space agency waved off Friday's landing.
NASA has set several conditions for a landing: the cloud cover in the skies must not be more than 50 percent, visibility must be at least eight kilometers (five miles) and lateral winds must not be blowing at more than 28 kilometers an hour (17 miles an hour).
As early as Thursday, the astronauts were told by NASA to shut down some of the computers on board the shuttle to conserve electricity in the event that their landing was delayed.
The Hubble observatory was released on Tuesday after five obstacle-filled spacewalks.
The enhancements have equipped Hubble to search for the earliest galaxies, probe the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy as well as study planet-making processes.
But the trouble was well worthwhile.
John Grunsfeld, an astronomer turned astronaut who led three of the mission's five spacewalks, told lawmakers Thursday that Hubble "is probably the most significant science instrument of all times."
As NASA struggled with the Atlantis landing, the White House announced that President Barack Obama has nominated former astronaut Charles Bolden to be the agency's new administrator.
If confirmed, Bolden would be the first African American to lead NASA and only the second astronaut.
A retired Marine Corps major general, Bolden made four shuttle voyages during his years as an astronaut and piloted the shuttle Discovery when it deployed Hubble into orbit in 1990.
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The control tower at the Shuttle Landing Facility is reflected in water from recent rains at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Heavy cloud cover and crosswinds forced the US space agency to put off the space shuttle Atlantis' return to Earth for at least another day, extending an otherwise successful mission to repair the Hubble telescope.
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