May 22, 2009 The landing of space shuttle Atlantis has been
postponed until tomorrow morning at the earliest* because of bad
weather at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis had two
landing opportunities at Kennedy today, but both were waved off
this morning because of elevated crosswinds, a low cloud ceiling
and nearby thunderstorms, all three of which fell outside NASA's
parameters for a shuttle touchdown. The first of four landing
opportunities tomorrow is at 9:16 A.M. (Eastern Daylight Time)
at Kennedy, but continued inclement weather in Florida could
shift the site to Edwards Air Force Base in California, which
has two landing opportunities Saturday. Landing in California is
not as desirable because the shuttle must then be ferried back
to Kennedy atop a specially equipped NASA 747 at a reported cost
of $1.8 million. Such was the case after space shuttle Endeavour
landed at Edwards at the end of November—click here to see an
overhead photograph of the orbiter hitching a ride back to the
East Coast. M