Shuttle to Return 1 1/2 Hours Early Because of Poor Weather Outlook
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope repair crew recuperated Saturday from an exhausting yet successful nine days in space before packing to come home a little sooner than expected.
NASA pushed up the landing of the shuttle Endeavour at the space center to 9:26 p.m. PST today, 1 1/2 hours, or one orbit, earlier than planned. The weather was expected to deteriorate through the early morning hours Monday, so mission managers decided to aim for an earlier touchdown.
The nighttime touchdown will be only the second time a shuttle has landed at the space center in darkness. The first was three months ago.
The seven Endeavour astronauts spent their one and only day off in space gazing down at Earth and relaxing.
About the only work the crew did was to conduct a shuttle water-disposal experiment.
“I’m very pleased that the crew gave us a day off,” said lead flight director Milt Heflin.
On Saturday morning, one day after being released from Endeavour, the space telescope was trailing the shuttle by 87 miles. Shuttle commander Richard Covey described the receding telescope as “the brightest morning star you ever saw.”
During five spacewalks five days in a row--a U.S. record--the astronauts installed 11 new parts in the space telescope in hopes of fixing its blurry vision and replenishing its guidance, power and computer systems.
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