Live In Orbit: Astronauts "Go" To Close Doors

The Atlantis astronauts have been given a "go" to close the shuttle's payload bay doors, but stormy weather around Kennedy Space Center could force NASA to send the ship and its crew to a back-up landing site in California.

NASA mission managers gave the crew the go-ahead to shut the clam shell-like doors just before 6 a.m. But they'll tag up with the crew again in about an hour before giving them an okay to don partial-pressure launch-and-entry suits. A wave-off of the first landing chance at 10:08 a.m. could come at that time.

Conditions around KSC are similar today to those that forced NASA to forego landing opportunities at the spaceport on Friday and Saturday. Meteorologists already are tracking rain showers off the coast of Cape Canaveral and a seabreeze will set up as the sun rises and the atmosphere begins to heat up. The seabreeze the last two days resulted in low cloud decks over the KSC runway and rain showers within 30 miles of the field.

The astronauts would have a second opportunity to land at KSC at 11:48 a.m.

There are two opportunities to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California today: 11:38 a.m. and 1:17 p.m. The weather there is excellent.

ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enalarge the screen grab from the Air Force 45th Weather Squadron Weather Channel. It shows rain showers creeping within 30 miles of the Kennedy Space Center runway as the astronauts were given a green light to close the shuttle's payload bay doors.