Space Shuttle Atlantis
According to NASA the landing of the space shuttle Atlantis has been delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions. Cloudy skies and rain storms made Atlantis’ scheduled landing in Florida on Friday impossible. The space shuttle is coming back after a successful mission to modernize the Hubble Space Telescope and the new landing date is set on Saturday at 9:16 a.m. EDT (1316 GMT) at the Kennedy Space Center.
Mission commentator Kyle Herring said it was a very easy decision to make considering the weather conditions which were not in favor of the shuttle’s homecoming. However, if the conditions remain the same, the shuttle will be requested to land on its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
The Atlantis space shuttle has been orbiting Earth for 11 days and its mission was to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope. The famous telescope was equipped with brand new cameras, batteries and positioning gyroscopes that should put Hubble among the world’s top astronomical instruments again. Furthermore, the astronauts repaired two of the telescope’s instruments which were not in the original refurbish plan.
The new installed gadgets and the modernization of the telescope should keep Hubble on the cutting edge of scientific research at least until June 2014. From that date the infrared-sensitive James Webb Space Telescope is programmed to take Hubble’s place.
According to NASA, the space shuttle has enough supplies to delay the landing until Monday if necessary.
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