NASA orders Discovery to delay landing
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-08 10:37

NASA ordered space shuttle Discovery to put off its landing early Monday by at least 90 minutes because of low clouds over Cape Canaveral.

The seven astronauts were advised to try for the second opportunity at 6:21 a.m. EDT in hopes the sky would clear.

No looking back as shuttle heads home

Flight controllers and others at NASA struggled to push away thoughts of Columbia's tragic return as Discovery aimed for a landing before dawn Monday, the first for a shuttle since the 2003 disaster, the Associated Press reported.

The Mission Control team in charge of guiding Discovery and its crew of seven safely back to Earth was focused on that sole objective and trying not to dwell on that awful morning when the Columbia shattered in the sky just 16 short minutes from home and seven astronauts were lost.

"We're looking forward, we're not looking back," flight director LeRoy Cain said Sunday with less than 24 hours to go before touchdown.

LeRoy Cain, the ascent/descent flight director for Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS114, addresses the media during a status briefing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston August 7, 2005. Discovery astronauts gave their spacecraft a final inspection on Sunday and said they were confident of a safe return to Earth on the first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster. [Reuters]

So were Discovery's seven astronauts, who woke up Sunday evening ready to return home.

"I have had a lot of thoughts about Columbia and I will have thoughts after the landing," said commander Eileen Collins. "We're all going to be very focused ... on the job at hand."

"It's time to come home," she added Sunday, "and keep working on getting the shuttle better and ready to fly in the future."

Good weather was forecast for what was to be a relatively uncommon, less-preferred landing in darkness, something unavoidable given Discovery's launch time on July 26. Of the previous 111 shuttle touchdowns, only 19 occurred at nighttime.

Discovery's 13-day flight to the international space station and back may be the last one for a long while. NASA grounded the shuttle fleet after a slab of insulating foam broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during liftoff 錕斤拷 the very thing that doomed Columbia and was supposed to have been corrected.

Unlike Columbia, which was punched in the wing, Discovery was not hit by the big chunk of foam, but other smaller pieces struck. No severe damage was noted by the brand new wing sensors, laser-tipped inspection boom and extensive photography, giving NASA the confidence to clear the spacecraft for the fiery, inherently dangerous ride home.

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