NASA update: Shuttle Discovery landing postponed one day

For those of you following the STS-128 mission, the news from NASA is that the scheduled landing for today had to be postponed due to unstable weather conditions around the Kennedy Space Center landing site in Florida. They’ll have four opportunities to try again tomorrow: two at Kennedy, and two at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The weather in Florida tomorrow is predicted to be even more unstable than today, so right now Edwards is looking like the best opportunity. The timing of the landing will depend on which location is used, but the earliest opportunity would be 5:48 pm Eastern time for a landing at KSC.

So Discovery’s crew will get a bonus day in space while they prepare for landing tomorrow. They deserve a chance to relax a bit and enjoy the view after completing a successful mission. If you’d like to follow the preparations for landing, check NASA’s shuttle landing blog, which will starting covering the day’s activities several hours before the first scheduled landing opportunity. Hopefully all will go as planned tomorrow and Discovery’s crew will be back home safely.