Shuttle’s Landing Delayed Again--Computer at Fault

Mission Control told Columbia’s astronauts shortly before midnight Friday to delay their landing at least 95 minutes because of a problem in the spaceship’s computer system.

The “wave-off” call came just 25 minutes before Commander Daniel Brandenstein was to fire braking rockets to start the spaceship on an hourlong dive through through the atmosphere to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

Touchdown, which had been set for 12:01 a.m. PST was rescheduled for 1:36 a.m., after Columbia made one more swing around the globe.

Mission Control reported there was a switching problem in a backup computer and the new landing time was dependent on a resolution of the trouble.

In normal configuration Columbia has four primary computers working and one backup. The control center said it was reconfiguring the system to shift one of the operating units to the backup.

The spaceship could operate with just two computers operating.

The shuttle and its five astronauts had planned to return home Friday morning, but the landing was waved off first by one orbit and then by a day because of a threat of fog that proved to be real at Edwards.

The weather was favorable for this morning in the Mojave Desert.

Columbia carries enough fuel and other supplies to stay in orbit until at least Monday, NASA officials said.

The astronauts had a light day Friday, working on a couple of experiments and snapping some more photographs of Earth before going to bed around noon.

They were awakened Friday evening to the strains of “Anchors Aweigh” for shuttle commander Brandenstein and pilot Jim Wetherbee, both Navy men, and the fight song for the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, Brandenstein’s alma mater.

“Good morning Columbia. We’d like to know what it feels like to be record setters,” Mission Control said.

“We’re at a loss for words,” Brandenstein said.

It was the second time they were awakened. Their sleep was interrupted in the afternoon when an alarm sounded, indicating there was briefly too much nitrogen in the nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere inside the shuttle.