Bad Weather Delays Shuttle Landing for 2nd Consecutive Day

Gusts of nearly 30 mph in Florida and rain clouds in California prevented space shuttle Discovery and its astronauts from returning to Earth on Monday.

It was the second day in a row that bad weather kept the shuttle from landing, and it dragged the flight out to 13 days.

As one landing attempt after another was scrapped, Mission Control told the seven astronauts to enjoy the extra “window time.” Commander Brian Duffy sounded exasperated and sighed as he acknowledged the third delay of the day.

Less than an hour later, Mission Control announced Monday’s fourth and final delay and told Duffy he would have to aim for a Tuesday afternoon touchdown instead.

“We all gave it a try,” Duffy said. “Today was one of those days.”

For the second day, strong crosswinds at the Kennedy Space Center kept Discovery from concluding NASA’s 100th shuttle flight. The shuttle rocketed into orbit Oct. 11 on a space station construction mission.

Across the country, at an alternative landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the sky was overcast and rain was moving in.

The weather at Edwards is expected to improve considerably today, while the outlook for Kennedy remains poor.

Discovery has enough fuel and power to stay aloft until Wednesday. As a last resort, NASA could send the shuttle to White Sands, N.M.

NASA prefers landing the shuttle in Florida to save the nearly $1 million and one week required for the cross-country ferry trip. That extra time could end up delaying Discovery’s next mission, a trip back to the space station in February.

Of the 98 previous shuttle landings, 52 ended at Kennedy, 45 at Edwards and one at White Sands, back in 1982. The only other shuttle flight, the 25th in 1986, ended in the midair explosion of Challenger.

The last time a space shuttle landed at Edwards was in 1996.

Discovery’s mission saw the addition of two new pieces to the space station and paved the way for the arrival of the station’s first permanent crew in early November.