Space Shuttle Atlantis and its five member crew will remain in orbit one additional day following the wave-off of two landing opportunities at Kennedy Space Center .today. Weather for both landing opportunities was too dynamic to assure flight controllers that it would be acceptable one hour after having to commit to an entry . Early morning fog obscured the landing site on the first opportunity when the decision had to be made and apparently increasing low clouds made the second landing try too uncertain for comfort. Atlantis has five landing opportunities for a return home on Sunday, two at KSC and three at Edwards Air Force Base , California. Weather forecasters and flight controllers will examine expected conditions for each of those times to determine whether all are usable.
All times are Central.
Following the wave-off, astronauts were told they could begin backing out of their deorbit readiness condition, reconfiguring orbiter systems, opening the payload bay doors and getting out of their suits. During the stand-down from entry preparations as the astronauts were opening the payload doors, there was brief concern when microswitches which show the position of a set of door centerline latches indicated that they were not fully open, halting the door opening process. Open doors are required to allow the shuttle's radiators to provide necessary cooling. Astronaut Linda Godwin visually compared the latch position with drawings and described them as appearing to be fully open. Flight controllers asked the crew to operate switches which manually open the remaining latches along the starboard door.