KOROLYOV. Aug 8 (Interfax-AVN) - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery, complete with seven astronauts onboard, has had its landing postponed by a day, a NASA spokesman told Interfax on Monday.
The shuttle will attempt to land at Cape Canaveral at 1:08 p.m. Moscow time (0908 GMT) on Tuesday, he said.
He said there are several time windows available for a Tuesday landing.
The spokesman said weather conditions were the only reason for the postponement. "There is no technical trouble with the shuttle, its landing was put off solely due to weather conditions," he said.
He said that a second attempt on Tuesday is slated in for 2:39 p.m. Moscow time (1039 GMT), then there is a reserve time of 2:43 p.m. (1043 GMT) with a further attempt possible at 4:13 p.m. (1213 GMT) at Edwards air base in California, with a final attempt at lined up for 5:48 p.m. (1348 GMT), also at Edwards air base.
The NASA official said that if the landing does not take place on Tuesday it will be put off until Wednesday. There will also be several time windows open to the shuttle then.
"There is nothing dramatic in putting off the shuttle landing from Monday to Tuesday. There is enough fuel onboard, and the astronauts were prepared for such developments," he said.