Bad weather forecast for Friday could force the space shuttle Discovery to land in the western United States instead of Cape Canaveral, Florida, as planned, NASA said Wednesday. "So far, the weather conditions are acceptable in White Sands (New Mexico) for Friday, but the weather in Florida is always unpredictable," said Jessica Rye, a spokeswoman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the Kennedy Space Center here.
If weather conditions in Florida are unfavorable, Discovery could land at the US space agency's White Sands test facility in New Mexico or at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
"The decision will be made 90 minutes before landing, so there is no way to know it (the landing site) before Friday," Rye said.
The shuttle undocked from the International Space Station late Tuesday, at the end of a successful eight-day construction mission, to begin its return to Earth.
Source: Agence France-Presse
