By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : US space shuttle Atlantis bringing Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams home after a 194-day record space odyssey will have to stay an extra day in space with bad weather forcing cancellation of Thursday's landing.
Williams and six fellow astronauts bringing her back from the International Space Station have four landing opportunities Friday with the first one at 2.16 p.m. (11.46 p.m. IST) at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida.
Thunderstorms in the vicinity of Kennedy forced flight controllers to wave off both opportunities Thursday, US space agency NASA said. Controllers and weather watchers will closely monitor forecasts for Friday's chances in Florida and at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
The first opportunity Friday calls for a de-orbit burn at 1.14 p.m. (10.44 p.m. IST). The second calls for the de-orbit burn to begin at 2.50 p.m. (12.20 a.m. IST Saturday) and landing an hour later at Kennedy.
If Florida weather does not cooperate, two opportunities are available at Edwards. At the first one the de-orbit burn would occur at 4.19 p.m. (1.49 a.m. IST) and landing at 5.21 p.m. (2.51 a.m. IST). The final opportunity is one orbit later with the de-orbit burn at 5.55 p.m. (3.25 a.m. IST) and the landing at 6.56 p.m. (4.26 a.m. IST)
If Atlantis had landed on the first opportunity Thursday, Williams' would have logged 193 days, 16 hours and 8 minutes. She has not only set an endurance record for the longest space flight by a woman during her very first space journey, but with four excursions spread over 29 hours and 17 minutes also broke one for most space walks by a woman.
The shuttle blasted off June 8 to fetch Williams and install new solar power panels aboard the International Space Station.