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Endeavour systems tested for Sunday night's landing
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 20, 2010


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Keeping tabs on threatening weather, the Endeavour astronauts packed up Saturday, powered down the ship's robot arm and tested the shuttle's re-entry systems in preparation for landing Sunday night at the Kennedy Space Center.

Commander George Zamka and his crewmates have two landing opportunities in Florida Sunday and two at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Flight controllers Saturday deleted a previously planned orbit adjust rocket firing, resulting in slightly revised deorbit and landing times (in EST and mission elapsed time):


DATE/TIME.....DD...HH...MM...SS...EVENT

02/21
09:14:52 PM...13...17...00...45...Deorbit ignition (orbit 217)
10:20:37 PM...13...18...06...30...Landing at Kennedy Space Center
10:50:52 PM...13...18...36...45...Deorbit ignition (orbit 218)
11:55:50 PM...13...19...41...43...Landing at Kennedy Space Center

02/22
12:20:31 AM...13...20...06...24...Deorbit ignition (orbit 219)
01:25:41 AM...13...21...11...34...Landing at Edwards AFB
01:56:41 AM...13...21...42...34...Deorbit ignition (orbit 220)
03:00:56 AM...13...22...46...49...Landing at Edwards AFB

But the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at the Johnson Space Center is predicting possible rain showers near the Kennedy Space Center with rain and low clouds expected at Edwards in California's Mojave Desert. Even worse conditions are expected in Florida on Monday but Edwards is expected to be "go."

NASA has a third shuttle landing site near White Sands, N.M., but it is considered a last-resort option because less support equipment is staged there and it would take longer to get a shuttle back to Florida. Given the current forecast, NASA is unlikely to consider a diversion to White Sands.

"The forecast we have right now, we have at least an even chance, if not a little better than that, probably 60-40 in my estimation for getting into KSC on the first opportunityåÊtomorrow night," LeRoy Cain, chairman of NASA's Mission Management Team, said at a news briefing.

"That's my personal guess, which means absolutely nothing, but since you asked, I'll give it to you. The good news is, we have a lot of options, a lot of capability in terms of our end-of-mission days and deorbit opportunities to the various sites. We're hopeful (Kennedy is) where we'll get to."

Endeavour has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Tuesday at the latest. But NASA typically reserves the final landing opportunity to protect against payload bay door problems or other technical issues. Cain said NASA's current focus is to get Endeavour down, on one coast or the other, by Monday. Entry Flight Director Norm Knight is expected to brief reporters on his landing strategy at 1:30 a.m. Sunday.

Aboard Endeavour, meanwhile, Zamka, pilot Terry Virts and flight engineer Stephen Robinson worked through a standard day-before-entry flight control system checkout, firing up one of the ship's hydraulic power units and exercising the shuttle's elevons, rudder and other systems before test firing the ship's maneuvering jets.

Just before the APU was shut down, a piece of debris of some sort could be seen floating away from the shuttle, possibly jarred loose by the vibrations of the hydraulic system. The object passed very close to a camera and was too out of focus to identify.

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