Shuttle’s heat shield safe to come home

Atlantis’ heat shield is safe to return to Earth, mission managers decided a day before the space shuttle was planned to land in Florida. A forecast for thunderstorms appeared to be the main obstacle for its return.

The shuttle’s first landing opportunity at 1:55 p.m. EDT today had thunderstorms predicted within 34 miles of the landing strip at Kennedy Space Center and clouds within 8,000 feet, both violations of flight rules.

Atlantis has seven opportunities to land over four days.

Mission Control said landing opportunities at Kennedy, the primary landing site, looked slightly better on Friday and Saturday. A backup landing site in California would be considered Friday.