Live In Orbit: NASA Waves Off 10:09 AM Landing

NASA is waving off a 10:09 a.m. opportunity to bring shuttle Atlantis and its crew back to Kennedy Space Center due to a line of nasty thunderstorms southeast of the spaceport and a forecast for storms at touchdown time.

Mission managers now are targeting two opportunities on Orbit 197 of the Atlantis/Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission: 11:48 a.m. at KSC or 11:38 a.m. at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

"Atlantis, Houston. We are going to wave off this rev. The weather is looking good at KSC, but not good enough for us to get comfortable," NASA astronaut Gregory "Box" Johnson told the Atlantis crew from the Mission Control Center in Houston.

"The atmosphere is unstable. As the temperature rises, it's going to approach the trigger point that triggers off thunderstorms. You've got a forecast of thunderstorms within 30 (miles). And so we are going to target KSC and Edwards. We're going to keep open for the next rev," Johnson said.

"Okay Houston, we copy," Atlantis mission commander Scott Altman replied. "We're waving off this rev. Thanks."

NASA had been tracking thunderstorms southeast of Cape Canaveral for several hours before waving off the 10:09 a.m. opportunity. NASA Entry Flight Director Norm Knight just could not get comfortable with the weather.

The Atlantis crew now is setting up flight computers so that either KSC or Edwards can be selected as the landing site at the last moment.

Deorbit burn for the 11:48 a.m. opportunity at KSC would come at 10:41 a.m.

Deorbit burn for the Edwards opporunity at 11:39 a.m. would come about 10:24 a.m.

A go/no-go call is expected between 10 a.m. and 10:24 a.m.