SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY DUE HOME TODAY~

AS THE SPACE SHUTTLE CIRCLES THE EARTH, NASA IS PONDERING ON WHERE TO LAND IT DUE TO WEATHER PROBLEMS TODAY IN FLORIDA AS WELL AS EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE IN CALIFORNIA. WHITE SANDS NEW MEXICO MAY BE WHERE IT WILL HAVE TO LAND. IF IT DOES NOT LAND TODAY, THEN IT WILL BE SATURDAY FOR SURE. READ MORE BELOW.

CHECK OUT THE INTERACTIVE SHUTTLE MISSION BELOW. JUST PUT YOUR MOUSE ON ALL THE DAYS THEY WERE UP IN SPACE AND IT WILL SHOW YOU ALL THE THINGS THEY ACCOMPLISHED WHILE IN SPACE THIS TIME.

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/STS116_flash/index_noaccess.html

COMING UP TODAY OR SATURDAY FOR SURE. THEY HAVE TO LAND SOMEWHERE. ! SEE ARTICLE BELOW.

NASA unsure where shuttle will land~

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA managers cleared space shuttle Discovery to return home Friday, but are unsure where the spacecraft will touch down.

Showers and clouds were in the forecast at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and crosswinds were expected at NASA's next-best option, Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. That ruled both sites out because of landing rules.

So NASA was left with the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, a site that hasn't been used for a shuttle landing in 24 years, as the best option for favorable weather.

White Sands Space Harbor's flat runway.

NASA has landed an orbiter at White Sands’ Northrup Strip only once in its 25-year history of shuttle flight during the STS-3 mission in 1982 aboard Columbia, which suffered brake damage and extensive contamination from gypsum dust.

Since then, a new towing area and concrete pad have been installed to protect the orbiter against the dust from the gypsum-covered lakebed runway [image].

“So we feel really good that the gypsum problem is taken care of once we get the vehicle off the lakebed,” Shannon said, adding that runway is flat and laser-leveled. “It is just one of the best places you’d ever want to land anything.”

NASA officials expect it would take between 45 and 60 days to return Discovery to KSC from White Sands, as compared to the traditional week of extra activity required to safe an orbiter at Edwards, hoist it atop its modified 747 jet carrier craft for the ferry ride back to its Florida launch site.


"I have a lot of things to worry about on this flight that I can control and the weather is something I can't," Discovery commander Mark Polansky told reporters from space. "I'm ready to land at any of the three sites."

NASA managers shipped a crane for lifting the shuttle, equipment that purges gases and cools and heats the shuttle on the ground, thruster plugs and 60 workers from the Kennedy Space Center to the New Mexico landing site in preparation for the shuttle landing.

They then hoped the weather would clear at the other two sites.

"As we get closer, we'll have much more certainty on what we're really faced with," said entry director Norm Knight, who will direct the landing.

The first landing opportunity was at 3:56 p.m. EST at Kennedy Space Center. Other opportunities were 1 1/2 hours later at all three sites followed by two opportunities at Edwards and White Sands 1 1/2 hours after that. NASA managers were considering a last try at 8:36 p.m. EST at Edwards.

NASA has seven more opportunities to land the shuttle on Saturday. Discovery needs to be on the ground by Saturday because it will run out of the fuel that powers its electrical system.

Discovery had originally been scheduled to land on Thursday, but the flight was extended a day to allow a fourth spacewalk to fold up a stubborn, accordion-like solar array on the space station.

On Thursday afternoon, the space agency pronounced Discovery safe to return after analyzing images from an inspection of the ship's heat shield. Shuttles are now routinely inspected in flight for any damage of the sort that doomed Columbia in 2003.

During the 25 years of the shuttle program, there have been 63 landings at Kennedy, 50 at Edwards and just the single landing at White Sands in 1982.

Even though the White Sands runway regularly is used for practice landings by astronauts, NASA does not like to use it for the real event because it lacks the equipment to service the shuttle.

It could take as long as two months to get the shuttle back to Florida from New Mexico, compared to a week from Edwards, threatening NASA's ability to get Discovery ready to fly again next October.

Flight controllers in Houston, trying their hand at holiday songwriting, sent the Discovery crew in their daily messages lyrics to their version of the song, "Let it Snow."

"Oh the weather at KSC is frightful. But at White Sands it's so delightful. And since we have to land. Land White Sands. Land White Sands. Land White Sands," it said.


STS-116 Mission Highlights
(Times Approximate)
Saturday, Dec. 9

Launch from KSC

8:47:34 p.m. EST

Sunday, Dec. 10

Shuttle Heat Shield Inspection

3:28 p.m. EST

Monday, Dec. 11

Docking at ISS

5:12 p.m. EST

Tuesday, Dec. 12

First Spacewalk Begins

3:31 p.m. EST

Tuesday, Dec. 12

Port 5 Truss Installation

5:43 p.m. EST

Wednesday, Dec. 13

Port 6 Solar Array Retraction (stops at half-retraction)

1:28 p.m. EST

Thursday, Dec. 14

Second Spacewalk Begins

2:41 p.m. EST

Friday, Dec. 15

ESA PAO Event
Fuglesang Sets New Frisbee World Record

2:07 p.m. EST

Friday, Dec. 15

Joint Discovery/ISS Crew
News Conference

3:47 p.m. EST

Saturday, Dec. 16

Third Spacewalk Begins

2:25 p.m. EST

Sunday, Dec. 17

Cargo Transfer Activities, Spacewalk Prep



Monday, Dec. 18

Fourth Spacewalk to help retract ISS Solar Array

2:12 p.m. EST

Tuesday, Dec. 19

ISS Undocking

5:09 p.m. EST

Wednesday, Dec. 20

Final Shuttle Heat Shield Inspection
Small Satellites Deploy Later

12:17 p.m. EST

Thursday, Dec. 21

Discovery Flight Control Systems Check
Small Satellite Deploys Later

10:47 a.m. EST

Friday, Dec. 22

Landing at KSC

3:55 p.m. EST

Friday, Dec. 22

Shuttle Crew Post-Landing News Conference
(Commander's discretion)

No earlier than 10:00 p.m. EST