Astronauts ready, but weather questionable for Endeavour landing

by Amy Judd | November 29, 2008 at 04:55 pm

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With only 24 hours left before space shuttle Endeavour comes back to earth, Mission Control is saying the weather may be a bit questionable for the main landing site, and as a result they could be kept up for one more day, or sent somewhere else to land.

Endeavour crew left the space station on Friday after almost a two-week visit, in which they put in a new bathroom, kitchen, excercise machine and recycling system to turn urine into drinking water.

On Saturday afternoon — 24 hours before the planned landing — Mission Control informed the seven astronauts that Endeavour had been cleared for re-entry following analysis of data beamed down from a final thermal survey of their ship. The space shuttle was found to be free of any serious defects caused by space junk that could jeopardize the descent.

The astronauts noticed a small strip of material floating away as they checked out their flight systems, but Mission Control told them not to worry. It was merely a 3-inch label.