Weather In Florida Means Edwards Touchdown

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 11.30.08 162603 EST: The 124th Shuttle mission and the 22nd for Endeavour is home at Edwards AFB, safe and sound. For Astronaut Greg Chamitoff, it has been some six months since he last felt significant gravity. Chamitoff arrived home in the lower deck of Endeavour’s crew compartment and laying in a chair on his back to help his transition.

After 250 orbits of Earth, NASA reports that STS-126 has concluded safely with space shuttle Endeavour executing a perfect entry and landing at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. "That was a great way to end a fantastic flight," Capcom Alan Poindexter radioed the crew from Mission Control. The astronauts aboard the shuttle have about an hour of duties in front of them to “safe” the vehicle so technicians can get it ready to move into its protective orbiter processing facility. 

Endeavour arrived at the station Nov. 16, delivering equipment that will help allow the station to double its crew size to six. In addition, the STS-126 astronauts delivered Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus, who replaced Greg Chamitoff. This was the 27th Shuttle mission to the ISS.

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 11.30.08 1250 EST: The weather forecast is "no go" for landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida today and tomorrow. A front moving through Florida will see storms around Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility on both days. Mission controllers have given Endeavour the go-ahead for the first landing opportunity at 4:25 p.m. EST at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 11.30.08 1125 EST: It looks increasingly likely that California will be the landing site for the shuttle Endeavour, as NASA has scrubbed both planned landing attempts for Sunday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center due to storms over the state... but NASA hasn't made a formal decision as of yet.

Flight controllers are looking at potential landing opportunities for Monday, though poor weather conditions are expected to continue over Florida through the early part of the week.

NASA would prefer to return the shuttle to KSC, as it saves money and the logistical hassle of transporting the shuttle across country from Edwards Air Force Base.

The STS-126 crew has two landing opportunities Sunday at Edwards -- one at 4:25 pm EST, and a second at 6 pm -- if the weather conditions are not favorable for a Monday landing in Florida. Stay tuned.

Original Report

The space shuttle Endeavour crew is expected to complete its mission to the International Space Station with a landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:19 pm EST on Sunday, concluding a 16-day flight, 11 of which were spent docked to the station.

Those plans are somewhat nebulous at this time, however, due to forecasted storms over the Space Coast. The Florida prognosis doesn't improve much on Monday, either... meaning California could see its first shuttle landing since Atlantis touched down at Edwards Air Force Base in June 2007.

"One is just as good as the other in our mind," STS-126 mission manager LeRoy Cain told the Associated Press.

The entry flight control team in Mission Control, Houston, will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy before permitting Endeavour to return to Earth. Sunday landing opportunities at Kennedy are at 1:19 pm and 2:54 pm EST; Edwards opportunities are 4:24 pm and 5:59 pm.

On Saturday, NASA engineers completed their damage assessment of Endeavour's heat shield, and gave the green light for the shuttle to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. That go-ahead followed some tense moments onboard the orbiter, when astronaut Don Pettit noticed a piece of debris floating away from the shuttle's tail section after a hydraulic systems test. The 3-inch piece of flotsam was later identified as a label from the shuttle's payload bay.

"No issue," Mission Control told Endeavour commander Chris Ferguson.

As ANN reported, the STS-126 mission began November 14 and prepared the space station to house six crew members for long-duration missions. The new station cargo includes a water recovery system, additional sleeping quarters, a second toilet and a resistance exercise device.

During four spacewalks, the crew serviced the station's two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which allow its solar arrays to track the sun, and installed new equipment in support of future assembly missions. The flight also delivered station resident Sandra Magnus to the outpost.

Greg Chamitoff will return to Earth aboard Endeavour after spending more than five months aboard the complex.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/shuttle