Pingie: HTTP:: Discovery 039 s Landing Delayed by Thunderstorms

HTTP:: Discovery 039 s Landing Delayed by Thunderstorms
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Despite having not one, but two landing windows yesterday, the space shuttle Discovery was unable to take advantage of any of them, as stormy clouds and thunderstorms loomed over the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA officials, the seven-member crew aboard the spacecraft have another window of opportunity this evening, at 5:48 pm EDT (2148 GMT). They admit, however, that conditions may actually grow worse by then, and that the storms might intensify. Florida is notorious for its shifting and highly dynamic weather patterns. They bring forth clouds and lightning over minutes, and clear up the skies in the same amount of time, at unpredictable moments. In fact, mission controllers for the STS-128 flight say, the decision to cancel the shuttle's descent yesterday evening came down from the management as little as eight minutes before the actual related maneuvers were scheduled to begin. Thursday's landing opportunities began with a planned !
deorbit burn, scheduled for 5:59 pm EDT [2159 GMT] and a daylight landing at 7:05 pm [2305 GMT] The next opportunity was one hour after sunset, with the deorbit burn at 7:36 pm EDT and the landing at 8:42 pm EDT. According to NASA officials, the space shuttle has sufficient amounts of fuel and other supplies to remain in orbit until S...
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/Discovery-039-s-Landing-Delayed-by-Thunderstorms-121404.shtml
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