NASA will have two chances to bring the shuttle down to KSC: 10:09 a.m. and 11:48 a.m. But forecasters expect rain showers, thunderstorms, lightning and low cloud decks - conditions similar to those that forced landing postponements Friday and Saturday.The weather at Edwards Air Force Base north of Los Angeles is expected to be near-pristine. Landing opportunities there will come at 11:38 a.m. and 1:17 p.m. EDT.
NASA prefers to land at KSC because it costs $1.8 million to ferry an orbiter back to Florida from California.
Atlantis only has enough electrical power to remain in space until Monday, so NASA expects to send the shuttle and its crew to one site or the other today.
"We have every expectation that (today) will be landing day," NASA flight commentator Pat Ryan said Saturday.
Here's a look at the timeline for the crew's day in space:
++1:00 a.m.: Crew wakes.4 a.m.: Entry flight team reports to Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
++4:50 a.m.: Spaceflight Meteorology Group briefs Mission Control on the weather.
++4:51 a.m.: Atlantis astronauts begin deorbit preparations.
++5:27 a.m.: NASA Chief Astronaut Steve Lindsey takes off in T-38 training jet to begin weather reconnaissance around central Florida. Veteran astronaut Chris Ferguson will be flying around the Edwards Air Force Base area.
++6:17 a.m.: Crew closes shuttle payload bay doors for reentry.
++7:00 a.m.: Reentry software loaded into shuttle flight computers.
++7:17 a.m.: Lindsey switched to Shuttle Training Aircraft for weather reconnaissance around the KSC area.++7:35 a.m.: Crew dons partial-pressure launch-and-entry suits.
++8:00 a.m. Astronauts strap in to crew cabin seats.
++8:13 a.m.: Twin Orbital Maneuvering System engines put through gimbal test.
8:37 a.m.: Go/No-Go decision for deorbit burn.
If all goes well, Atlantis mission commander Scott Altman will fire the twin maneuvering engines for two minutes and 31 seconds, a move that will drop the shuttle out of orbit over the Indian Ocean and begin a 5,000-mile free-fall back to Kennedy Space Center.
The shuttle's trademark twin sonic booms should reverberate around Florida's Space Coast around 10:05 a.m. and then Altman will guide the shuttle on a sweeping 305-degree left turn before plunging on to a final approach to Runway 15 -- the north end of the three-mile strip.
A 10:09 a.m. touchdown would cap a 5.2 million mission during which the orbiter lapped the planet 196 times. Final mission elapsed time would be about 12 and a half days.
ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge the NASA images of the ground track Atlantis would follow if Mother Nature cooperates and the Atlantis astronauts are able to land at Kennedy Space Center at 10:09 a.m.. You can also see Landing Ground Tracks for all four attempts by clicking the hyperlink.
2 comments:
"NASA prefers to land at KSC because it costs $1.8 million to ferry an orbiter back to Florida from California."
Awwwwwww, poor NASA. $1.8 million? If they wanted to save that and lots more, they didn't have to launch the shuttle.
no wondering why the govt wanted to close the NASA or close KSC because NASA charge too much as for their pockets. The weather sometimes make a errors about our weather.
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