CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA delayed the alternate Discovery's homecoming from an International Space Station servicing errand until Tuesday after cloudy skies scuttled two quay attempts on Monday, NASA officials said. Touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was rescheduled for 7:33 a.m. EDT (1133 GMT) on Tuesday, with several backup opportunities ready both in Florida and in California at the wait agency's foundation in the Mojave Desert.
NASA prefers to settle on in Florida to evade the costly and time-consuming cross-country ferry escape to profit the commute to Florida for processing. Discovery's planned 13-day line already had been extended by a heyday so astronauts could use the station's communications structure to relay earnestness guard inspection results. NASA discovered the shuttle's Ku-band communications antenna was shivered tersely after Discovery's April 5 launch. The inspection was implemented after the 2003 Columbia accident, which was blamed on a infringement in its ardour shield.
Though Discovery has enough supplies to stay put in track until Wednesday, NASA will ground on Tuesday even if it means diverting to Edwards Air Force Base in California, swarm number one Bryan Lunney said. Discovery beat 10 days at the hiatus station, a $100 billion propel of 16 nations that is due to be completed this year after more than a decade of construction 220 miles above Earth. The shuttle delivered a redone ammonia cooling system, field experiments, a fourth U.S. sleeping berth and a darkroom for Earth observations and astronomical studies from the Destiny laboratory.
Three shuttle flights last to executed outfitting of the class before the shuttle quick is retired. The ride out was not expected to agitate NASA's plans to relocate the shuttle Atlantis to the found apartment on Monday dusk in practice for motor boat on its closing office on May 14. (Editing by Jane Sutton and Paul Simao) Copyright 2010 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This materialistic may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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