Clouds, Winds Delay Landing of Space Shuttle

Dense clouds, tricky crosswinds and a hint of rain forced NASA to cancel Tuesday’s planned landing of the shuttle Endeavour, giving the crew another day to study the Earth from orbit.

Low, dark clouds scuttled a first attempt to land at the space center and skies did not clear enough for a second try one orbit later. Because of the way the orbit was shaped, there were only two chances to land Tuesday, officials said.

Endeavour will have two opportunities each to land today at the space center or at Edwards Air Force Base in California, flight director Rich Jackson said. The first chance for Kennedy is at 8:29 a.m. PDT and the first for Edwards is at 9:55 a.m. PDT.

Edwards was not considered for landing Tuesday because initial weather forecasts at Kennedy had been favorable.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials prefer to land shuttles at the space center to avoid the cost of ferrying the spacecraft across the country.

The shuttle has enough supplies to stay up three more days.