Categories: MissionsNASASpace Shuttle

Weather Keeps Shuttle Crew in Space Another Day

STS-125 crew members aboard Atlantis (pictured above) will hang out at least a day longer in space, following foul weather that prevented a timely landing today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

And the forecast isn’t looking any sunnier for at least a little while.

There’s a 70 percent likelihood that storms will stick around today, with that chance dropping slightly to 60 percent through Saturday. By early next week, the chance of thunderstorms will have dropped below 50 percent.

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NASA Flight Director Norm Knight and the entry team will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy before permitting Atlantis and its crew to land at 9:16 a.m. Saturday. A second Kennedy landing opportunity is at 10:54 a.m. The shuttle also has landing opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 10:46 a.m. and 12:24 p.m.

If Atlantis does not land Saturday, there are multiple landing opportunities Sunday at Kennedy, Edwards, or White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

Meanwhile, here are some ways to keep current on the mission’s finale:

NASA News Twitter feeds

NASA TV downlink information, including schedules and links to streaming video,

STS-125 mission and accomplishments

NASA’s Hubble site

Anne Minard

Anne Minard is a freelance science journalist with an academic background in biology and a fascination with outer space. Her first book, Pluto and Beyond, was published in 2007.