Space Shuttle Endeavour to return to Earth on Tuesday

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to touchdown at 12:32 p.m. EDT today in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Rockets were fired to slow down the shuttle at 11:25 a.m. EDT to begin the re-entry procedure.

Weather conditions at the Kennedy Space Center are not forecast to be a problem, and the landing will take place as planned given a favorable crosswind.

A second landing in Florida is possible at the Kennedy Space Center at 2:06 p.m. Also, NASA says that usual back-up landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base in California and White Sands in New Mexico are not expected to be used.

Commander Scott Kelly was given the go-ahead for re-entry preparations after evaluation of the shuttle's wings and nose was completed, indicating no damage from space debris. The three-inch (7.6 cm) gash in the shuttle's belly reported earlier is likely not a safety risk, and should not lead to damage that requires any lengthy repair, NASA said.

The shuttle will pass above Hurricane Dean on the approach to Florida, but the shuttle will be too high to be affected. The threat of Dean heading toward Texas earlier last week prompted NASA to cut the mission a few days short in the case that Dean tracked north toward Houston's Mission Control Center, potentially disabling operations.

Sources

Shuttle Endeavors To Return To Earth — Internet Broadcasting Systems, WTAE, August 21, 2007
AP. Shuttle prepares for landing — CNN, August 21, 2007
Endeavour begins return to Earth — BBC News Online, August 21, 2007

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License