NASA Postpones Shuttle Landing Due to Mystery Object

NASA Postpones Shuttle Landing Due to Mystery Object, Weather

19 September 2006 11:59 a.m. EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA will postpone the planned Wednesday landing of the space shuttle Atlantis and its six-astronaut crew to further assess a mystery object seen floating between the orbiter and Earth earlier today.

“We’re going to wave off for tomorrow,” NASA astronaut Terry Virts, serving as spacecraft communicator, told Atlantis’ STS-115 crew, adding the poor weather expected at the shuttle’s Kennedy Space Center landing site Wednesday also factored into the decision.

Atlantis is now slated to land no earlier than Thursday at 6:21 a.m. EDT (1021 GMT), with a potential third heat shield survey with the shuttle’s sensor-laden inspection boom.

“We’ll be interested in whether we’ll be doing any more robotics tomorrow,” STS-115 commander Brent Jett told Virts.

“That is a possibility,” Virts said.

Earlier today at about 2:45 a.m. EDT (0645 GMT) an instrumentation and communications officer in NASA’s shuttle Mission Control room at Johnson Space Center noted an object between the orbiter and Earth, and traveling at about the same speed of the spacecraft.

The object was caught by a camera inside Atlantis’ payload bay, and was spotted just after the shuttle’s crew tested its reaction control system of thrusters.

A press briefing will begin at about 12:00 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT).

NASA is broadcasting Atlantis’ STS-115 mission to the ISS live via NASA TV. You are invited to follow the shuttle's progress using SPACE.com's NASA TV feed, which is available by clicking here or using the button at the left.

- Tariq Malik

NASA Tracks Mystery Object Near Atlantis Shuttle

19 September 2006 10:55 a.m. EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA mission controllers are tracking a mystery object hovering between the space shuttle Atlantis and Earth, and traveling at roughly the same speed as the orbiter, agency officials said Tuesday.

“Right now they’re just tying to figure out exactly what it is, how far away it is,” NASA spokesperson Kimberly Harle told SPACE.com. “It’s pretty much assessing the whole situation.”

Harle said that at 2:45 a.m. EDT (0645 GMT), just after Atlantis completed a check of its reaction control thrusters, the instrumentation and communications officer at NASA’s shuttle Mission Control room at Johnson Space Center noted an object between the orbiter and Earth, and traveling at about the same speed of the spacecraft.

Flight controllers are now using video cameras mounted along Atlantis’ robotic arm and payload bay to survey visible areas of the orbiter, including its wing leading edges and other vital heat shield areas, Harle said.

“Everything is still under assessment,” Harle said.

For now, Atlantis’ STS-115 shuttle crew will not stow their Ku-band antenna – the primary video and data link to Earth – to allow flight controllers to continue to study the object.