NASA considers emergency shuttle landing site

The radar mast extends from the shuttle cargo bay in this view from NASA TV

February 21, 2000
Web posted at: 6:00 PM EST

From staff and wire reports

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas (CNN) -- Bad weather forecasts prompted NASA on Monday to consider landing the space shuttle Endeavour at two alternative landing sites on Tuesday, including one where a shuttle has touched down only once before.

The shuttle crew earlier Monday wrapped up more than nine days of radar-scanning the Earth's surface, work that should produce the most comprehensive and accurate maps ever.

Inclement weather was forecast for both the primary landing site at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the backup landing site at the Edwards military base in California. As a result, mission controllers were preparing for a possible emergency landing at a military base in White Sands, New Mexico.

Earlier Monday, NASA told the astronauts Monday that the backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California appears to be the "only viable option" because of the dismal forecast at Cape Canaveral. But mission controllers later told reporters that a poor weather forecast for Southern California as well could force them to consider the White Sands site.

The last time a shuttle was forced to land at White Sands was 18 years ago.

In all, 45 shuttle flights have touched down at the Edwards base. But since the last one in 1996, 20 consecutive missions have ended at Cape Canaveral, according to NASA.

If the weather holds, the shuttle could land in Florida as early as 4:30 p.m. EST Tuesday. Endeavour has enough fuel and power to remain in orbit and delay landing until Thursday, if necessary, NASA said.

After some difficulty, Endeavour's crew on Monday secured a 197-foot (60-meter) long radar mast inside the space shuttle. Had they been unsuccessful, the orbiter's crew may have been forced to jettison the $35 million structure before landing.

The reeled in the radar mast and antenna after concluding their map data collection. It took just over 19 minutes to fully retract the mast into a canister in the shuttle cargo bay.

Several latches initially failed to lock the lid on a canister holding the mast. But mission controllers managed to secure them after two hours of tense trouble shooting.

The problem did not affect the mapping mission, during which the astronauts at least 80 percent of the Earth's terrain at least twice. Double imaging is needed to create ultraprecise 3-D maps of the planet's peaks and valleys, as far north as Alaska and as far south as the tip of South America.

	CHAT TRANSCRIPT
A chat about the space shuttle Endeavor with Miles O'Brien

The mapping gathered enough geographic data to fill 20,600 compact discs.

"We'd like to congratulate you on a flawless operation of this most sophisticated mapping instrument in the universe," Mission Control told the astronauts after mapping ended, just before 7 a.m. EST.

"This topographic database will be a real treasure of the human race for many years."

The mission came up about 5 percentage points short of its original goal of mapping 80 percent of the Earth's land masses, since NASA reduced the mapping time by a full day before launching Endeavour on February 11.

It will take scientists one to two years to go through all the material the shuttle captured. NASA and its partner, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, expect the maps to be the most accurate ever produced.

The Defense Department will use the maps to improve its aim of missiles and its deployment of troops. Almost everyone else will have to settle for less precise data because of national security issues, but the information still will be far superior to what is currently available.

"There's every reason to be excited," said the mapping agency's Thomas Hennig.

A malfunctioning thruster on the end of the mast, the longest rigid structure ever flown in space, chopped 2.5 million square miles off of the area the shuttle was able to map. The crew managed to conserve enough fuel during the last week to permit mapping on Sunday.

Endeavour was scheduled to land Tuesday afternoon at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But forecasters predict gusty winds there and mission controllers could order a landing at a back up site, Edwards Air Force Base in California.

CNN Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien and The Associated Press contributed to this report.