STS-125 Shuttle Atlantis Landing Delayed Until at Least Saturday

"Weather conditions made it an easy call. The weather was not going cooperate today," said mission commentator Kyle Herring.

NASA Flight Director Norm Knight and the entry team will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy before permitting Atlantis and its crew to land at 9:16 a.m. Saturday. A second Kennedy landing opportunity is at 10:54 a.m. The shuttle also has landing opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 10:46 a.m. and 12:24 p.m.

If Atlantis does not land Saturday, there are multiple landing opportunities Sunday at Kennedy, Edwards, or White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The Kennedy news center will open for landing activities. For recorded updated information about landing and news center hours, call 321-867-2525.

Mission Control has decided to forgo the first attempt to land shuttle Atlantis here at the Kennedy Space Center due to weather. The call came early, just before 6 a.m. ET, as Mission Control told the shuttle astronauts to stand down from their work for a planned 10 a.m. ET landing.

The next opportunity to land comes at 11:39 a.m. EDT (1539 GMT), and would require Atlantis to fire its engines to leave orbit at about 10:33 a.m. EDT (1433 GMT).

NASA had one more chance to bring Atlantis home on Friday, a little before noon. Otherwise, the shuttle and its crew would have to remain in orbit an extra day and try for either Kennedy Space Center or the backup landing site in Southern California on Saturday.

Atlantis has enough supplies to stay up until Monday.

As the space shuttle Atlantis' crew made final checks on their flight systems, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station tried out the new water recycling system. The ISS is getting ready to double the number of astronauts living there, from three to six. STS-125 has been a success so far: aside from ISS repairs and testing, the crew also repaired the Hubble telescope.