Tuesday landing looks likely

Endeavour could be ordered to undock from the space station on Sunday, a day early, so it can land Tuesday, allowing JSC workers to evacuate if Hurricane Dean threatens the Texas coast.

As Hurricane Dean moves toward the Gulf of Mexico, NASA might move up Endeavor's landing to Tuesday and even cut short or cancel today's spacewalk.

"We'd really like to protect an option the end the mission on Tuesday," said Leroy Cain, launch integration manager and a chairman of the Mission Management Team.

Shortening Saturday's spacewalk would give the shuttle crew time to speed undocking, a final examination of the spacecraft and landing. A decision was expected by this morning.

"In all likelihood it would be some scaled down version (of the spacewalk)," said Cain.

Johnson Space center officials have begun identifying critical personnel, in case hurricane shutdown procedures must begin this weekend.

"Our history from previous storms tells use we really have to let folks go in the Sunday time frame," Cain said.

Meanwhile, Commander Scott Kelly said moving up the landing was possible.

"It would certainly be a long day," said Kelly, who endorsed NASA's decision not to repair a 3-inch divot on the thermal tile.

"I agree absolutely 100 percent with the decision not to repair," said Kelly at a Friday press conference from space. "Even though making the repair could provide a little more margin, there is certainly more risk to doing the repair than we're willing to take."

Kelly said that tests showed the aluminum skin beneath the damage would reach only 340 degrees, well below the metal's melting point. Only one engineering group of about 30 felt the repair should be performed to minimize the risk of damage to the shuttle.

Also on Friday, lead shuttle flight director Matt Abbott said that bringing Endeavour home Tuesday, would avoid relocating the mission control staff.

The present forecast shows the storm pressing down on the Texas coast by Wednesday. A slight change of direction to the north would threaten Houston, the home of Mission Control.

In an emergency, mission controllers would fly to Kennedy Space Center, an option Abbot said he hopes to avoid, since equipment at KSC is designed for launch not landing.

"It's definitely not the same as being here at home," said Abbott. "Our objective is to get the mission completed from here in Houston."

Astronauts Dave Williams, a Canadian, and Clay Anderson, a space station flight engineer were scheduled to perform a 6.5-hour spacewalk Saturday at 10:01 a.m. EDT to complete station construction tasks that will help future missions.

A glove worn by spacewalker Rick Mastracchio was damaged during a Wednesday spacewalk, so the Williams and Anderson will check their gloves several times an hour for damage.

At Friday's press conference, Williams said that being in space showed him the
Earth's environment needs better care.

"You can definitely see water pollution," said Williams. "You can definitely see fires burning. You can see dark colored snow around industrialized cities.

"The planet is a very small place and all of us need to develop a sense of planetary stewardship."