Astronauts Snag Telescope, Prepare for Landing Today

Columbia’s astronauts retrieved a 3 1/2-ton ultraviolet telescope Wednesday and then were ordered to bring the space shuttle back to Kennedy Space Center just after daybreak today because of bad weather, a jammed hatch and trouble with navigation equipment.

Earlier in the week, NASA had granted the five astronauts an extra, 17th day in space. But the agency took it back after the astronauts accomplished their final job in orbit: grabbing the telescope they had dropped off at the start of the mission.

Commander Kenneth Cockrell steered Columbia to within 40 feet of the telescope and the crew reached out with the shuttle’s robot arm to pluck it from orbit as both traveled at 17,500 mph about 220 miles above the Pacific.

Flight director Wayne Hale said the primary concern in ordering the shuttle back was rain and fog expected at the landing site on Friday and through the weekend. The stuck hatch and the failure Wednesday of one of three navigation units also contributed to the decision to bring Columbia back as soon as possible.

Two spacewalks considered crucial practice for building the international space station had to be canceled because of the stuck hatch. Engineers still have no idea why the handle would barely budge.

The concern was not so much getting the hatch open but making sure it would seal after a spacewalk. Without a decent seal, spacewalkers Tamara Jernigan and Thomas Jones would be unable to reenter the pressurized cabin and would have to ride back to Earth in the air lock, the cramped chamber between the cabin and cargo bay.

During the mission, the crew also released and retrieved a semiconductor-producing satellite. This was the first mission in which a shuttle flew in formation with two satellites.