Discovery 1st Landing Attempt planned for around...
8:48am Monday Morning
Post Dates: April 19-20, 2010
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File photo credit: NASA-Tom Tschida
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BUT...
Weather Forecast for Landing Not Promising
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The crew’s wakeup call at 12:21am EDT was “The Star Spangled Banner,” played for Commander Alan G. Poindexter, who is wrapping up his second spaceflight. A U.S. Navy captain, Poindexter served as a pilot on STS-122 in February 2008.
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Forecasts for a landing at Kennedy Space Center are not promising, calling for high overcast and two layers of scattered clouds, as well as a chance of showers in the area.
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If needed, on Tuesday there are landing opportunities at Kennedy and the backup runway at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
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Weather permitting... First landing opportunity in Florida is scheduled for today at 8:48am.
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Post Update:
Monday Landings Waved Off
Posted at 8:03am CDT
Image above: Weather conditions partially obscure this view of the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Image credit: NASA TV
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Mission Control Entry Flight Director Bryan Lunney has given Discovery's seven astronauts a "no go" to perform the deorbit burn and decided to wave off the 10:23am EDT landing opportunity because of continued low cloud coverage at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.
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The first Kennedy landing opportunity Tuesday is on orbit 237 with a deorbit burn at 6:28am and landing at 7:34am. Edwards Air Force Base also is expected to be called up for Tuesday landing opportunities.
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Weather Delays Landing / Next Opportunity on Tuesday
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Space Shuttle Discovery will spend another day in orbit after two landing opportunities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida were foiled by clouds and rain in the area. Forecasts call for Florida conditions to improve Tuesday and for generally good weather in California.
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Commander Alan G. Poindexter, Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. and Mission Specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Rick Mastracchio, Stephanie Wilson, Clayton Anderson and Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki will have two more opportunities to land at Kennedy on Tuesday, as well as three at Edwards Air Force base in California.
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The first Kennedy opportunity Tuesday would see a deorbit burn at 6:28am EDT with a landing at 7:34am. For the second opportunity the deorbit burn at 8:02 a.m would lead to a landing 9:08am.
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For Edwards, the first opportunity deorbit burn would be at 7:56am with landing at 9:01am. The next would have a deorbit burn at 9:30am and a landing at 10:35am while the third would begin with a deorbit burn at 11:05am leading to a landing at 12:1pm.
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Discovery has enough consumables to remain in orbit until Wednesday. There are a total of six landing opportunities at the three U.S. landing sites that day.
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POST UPDATE:
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
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Discovery "Go" for Deorbit Burn
7:47am EDT
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Entry Flight Director Bryan Lunney and his team have given Discovery's seven astronauts a "go" for deorbit burn at 8:02 a.m. EDT to slow the shuttle on its descent to a 9:08 a.m. landing on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center. The weather has improved and is both "go" observed and "go" forecast at landing time.
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The landing will take the shuttle over Vancouver, northeast Washington, near Helena, Montana, over central Wyoming, across Kansas to northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, north of Little Rock, Arkansas, over Oxford, Mississippi, near Montgomery, Alabama, north of Albany, east of Valdosta and south of Columbus, Georgia, and, finally, over Florida east of Gainesville and west of Jacksonville.
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Keep up with the latest on landing at links below...
--- THEY’RE COMING HOME!!! ---
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POST UPDATE:
9:15am EDT
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Welcome HOME
To the Crew of
Space Shuttle Discovery
STS-131
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About Image: Space Shuttle Discovery lands at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completing the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station.Image credit: NASA TV
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Discovery Lands in Florida
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With Commander Alan G. Poindexter and Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. at the controls, space shuttle Discovery descended to a smooth landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-131 crew members concluded their successful mission to the International Space Station when the shuttle touched down at 9:08 a.m. EDT.
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Discovery arrived at the station April 7, delivering more than seven tons of equipment and supplies. During the 10-day stay, Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson conducted three spacewalks to install a 1,700-pound ammonia tank assembly on the station’s exterior to replace a depleted predecessor. They also replaced a rate gyro assembly, retrieved a Japanese experiment and two debris shields.
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JUST Three More Flights Left until END of the Space Shuttle Program
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Keep up with all the post landing events at links below...
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* Read Latest News & Updates
at NASA.gov
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* Watch Mission/Landing/Post Mission LIVE
At NASA TV
Click HERE to viewENJOY!!!
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AubreyJ.........
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All info/images in this post taken from the NASA.gov website
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