Bad weather prevents Florida shuttle landing

Puntúa la noticia :

Nota de los usuarios: - (0votos)

• M. Continuo
• Empresas y finanzas
• Telecomunicaciones y tecnología

Share

Tweet

elEconomista.es en Twitter

Follow @eleconomistaes

EcoTablet - ¡Gratis en App Store!

La plataforma más completa de información y servicios económicos para iPad.

• Suscribirse al boletín
• Imprimir
• Enviar
• Aumentar texto
• Reducir texto
• Haga doble click sobre una palabra para ver su signifcado
• Sudoku: Juega cada día a uno nuevo
• El tiempo: Consulta la previsión para tu ciudad

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Stormy weather prevented NASA from landing the space shuttle Endeavour at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Sunday.

Flight directors were weighing whether to land the shuttle later on Sunday at a backup site in California or keep it in orbit until Monday to see if the weather improves at the shuttle's home port in Florida.

"We've elected to waive off KSC altogether today," astronaut Alan Poindexter radioed to the crew from Mission Control, referring to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. "We are looking at tomorrow's forecast and whether or not we have an opportunity there."

Endeavour, which launched 16 days ago, is returning from a marathon home-improvement mission at the International Space Station.

Thunderstorms and wind gusts near the Kennedy Space Centre exceeded NASA's safety limits during the two landing opportunities on Sunday.

Flight directors could divert Endeavour to the backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert, where the weather was good and touchdown could occur at 4:25 p.m. EST (9:25 p.m. British time).

But NASA could also decide to wait a day to see if conditions would clear for a Florida landing on Monday. That would save about a week's time and the expense of flying the shuttle back to Florida on top of a specially designed carrier jet.

During their mission, Endeavour's crew installed a water recycling system that will enable NASA to add three more astronauts to the space station's permanent live-aboard crew.

They also conducted four spacewalks to repair the station's power system and delivered two new bedrooms, a second toilet, exercise gear, a small galley and other gear.

A Russian cargo ship at the space station arrived early Sunday with fuel, water and more supplies. Flight engineer Yury Lonchakov remotely guided the Progress vessel to a docking port after its automated system failed.

"Good job. Congratulations," a Russian flight controller, speaking through a translator, radioed to the crew.

NASA's next station visit is slated for February when the outpost's last solar wing panel will be installed. The agency plans eight more shuttle flights to the station, as well as a final servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope, before retiring the ships in 2010.

(Editing by Jane Sutton and Mohammad Zargham)

PUBLICIDAD

- Recibe nuestros análisis Diarios sobre Divisas, Acciones y Opciones. ¡Apúntate ya! ¡Es GRATIS!

- Opere en más de 8.000 CFDs. Infórmese y obtenga su CFD Trading Guide

- Nuevos spreads en materias primas: Oro tan sólo 0,3 puntos, Plata 0,25, Petróleo 0,35

- Opera desde 2,95 € en tiempo real con Self Bank.