NASA decided to delay a few more hours, until 23.23 GMT today, the return to Earth of space shuttle Discovery, after two aborted attempts due to bad weather yesterday.
The U.S. space agency determined that since the bad weather conditions persist, will miss the first attempt to return, which would occur at 21.54 GMT at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Therefore, the aim is to use the second attempt, which shall take place at 23.23 hours GMT, according to NASA on their website.
In the event that the weather improves, NASA could choose to divert Discovery to Edwards based U.S. Air Force in California.
However, NASA prefers landing in Florida is made because the costs of transporting Discovery coast to coast may reach $ 1.7 million.
The delay in return another day added to the 13 planned for the STS-128 mission, which first involved two astronauts Hispanics: Johnny "Danny" Olivas and Jose Hernandez.
The main objective of the mission, which included three extravehicular activities, was to replace a huge tank of ammonia that is part of the cooling system of the International Space Station (ISS), which is inhabited by six astronauts.
The seven members of Discovery's mission to the ISS also carried food supplies and new equipment, including a refrigerator to preserve biological specimens and a second belt for physical exercise for astronauts.
No comments:
Post a Comment