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Agloomy brew of low clouds and sleet behind the space convey Discovery"sreturn to Earth Monday, forcing the sevenastronaut organisation to outlay at slightest one moreday in circuit prior to entrance home.
Thefoul continue at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida thwarted dual separateattempts to land Discovery on a runway at the home port. The subsequent possibility toland the convey will come on Tuesday at 7:33 a.m. EDT (1133 GMT).
Discovery"screw of 7 astronauts thanked Mission Control for the efforts tosalvage a alighting from todays murky weather.
Weknow how most effort it is and we conclude all you"ve done,shuttle commander in chief Alan Poindexter told Mission Control. We"ll be hopefulfor improved continue tomorrow.
Discoveryis returning to Earth after resupplying the International Space Station withtons of uninformed haven and new scholarship equipment. With Mondays alighting delay,the astronauts are right away jacket up a 15day mission to batch up the orbitinglab.
NASAhoped to land the convey early Monday morning, but Mother Nature refused tocooperate. Shuttle moody manners dissuade perplexing to land a space convey with rainshowers inside of thirty miles of the runway given the continue can repairs thespacecrafts frail feverishness defense tiles, between alternative risks.
Lowcloud ceilings, similar to the one that thwarted todays initial alighting attempt, arealso a complaint given they affect runway prominence for convey commanders andpilots.
The clouded cover covering currently was usually 200 feet on top of the belligerent with prominence limited to 2 miles, unsuitable for any convey alighting attempts, NASA officials said.
On the initial alighting try Tuesday, Discovery will fly opposite the UnitedStates from the northwest to southeast when it reenters Earths ambience andmay be perceivable to observers on the ground. [Howto see Discoverys reentry from Earth.]
Itis usually the second time given the comfortless loss of Columbia in 2003 that a NASAshuttle has flown over the United States during reentry and proceed tolanding (the last time was in 2007). NASA typically prefers to fly shuttles infrom the southwest to equivocate drifting by highaltitude noctilucent clouds andflying over populated areas.
MissionControl opted for the arena for Discoverys alighting in sequence to give theshuttle astronauts additional time during their bustling mission.
IfDiscovery is incompetent to lapse to Florida on Tuesday, NASA could opt to land theshuttle at a backup runway at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Theshuttle has mixed opportunities to land at both sites on Tuesday. But NASAprefers to land Discovery in Florida � the convey fleets home pier and launchsite � given it saves about a week of time and $1.8 million in ride coststo packet the booster home from California atop a mutated Boeing 747 jumbojet.
Thevast ash clouded cover from Iceland"sEyjafjallaj�kull volcano poses no regard for Discoverys reentry andlanding. Unlike air trade in Europe, the shuttles alighting proceed is wellclear of any regions influenced by the volcanic ash plume.
Discoveryhas sufficient haven to sojourn in space until Wednesday, but NASA wants to landthe convey by Tuesday in sequence to keep one day in haven in box of anunexpected malfunction.
Discoverylaunched in to space on Apr 5 on what has turn a 14day mission todeliver new scholarship examination equipment, haven and big gangling tools to theInternational Space Station. The astronauts achieved 3 difficult spacewalks toreplace an ammonia coolant tank outward the station.
Astuck valve inside the new tank has kept it from operative properly, but MissionControl opted to have hire astronauts repair it after on destiny spacewalk.
Thismission is one of NASAs last couple of convey flights prior to the space craft fleetis late in September. It is the secondtolast mission for Discovery, whichis NASAs oldest space shuttle.
Afterthis flight, usually 3 some-more convey missions remain. NASAs subsequent space shuttleto fly is Atlantis, that will broach a new Russian procedure to theInternational Space Station in May.
Atlantisis due to hurl out to the strand launch desk pad tonight.
Images � Shuttle Discoverys Mission in Pictures Morning Star: The Predawn Launch of Shuttle Discovery Iceland Volcanos Ash Cloud No Threat to Space Shuttle Landingis on condition that finish coverage of Discoverys STS131 mission to theInternational Space Station with Managing Editor Tariq Malik and Staff WriterClara Moskowitz formed in New York. Clickhere for convey mission updates and a couple to NASA TV.
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