NASA was not thrilled about the next-best landing site, White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, because it lacks the cranes and other equipment needed to transport the shuttle back to its home at ...

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — With the space shuttle Discovery safely back on the ground, the astronauts who repaired it in outer space and rode it 219 times around ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — On the eve of NASA's historic, wheel-stopping end to the shuttle program, the four astronauts making the final journey completed one last task.

If landing occurs as scheduled, this will be the 63rd landing at Kennedy in the history of the shuttle program. Atlantis will be serviced and prepared for its next mission, STS-117, set for ...

At the time, Kennedy was not equipped with the 15,000-foot-long, 300-foot-wide runway now designated at the shuttle's primary landing site. The White Sands strip has undergone improvements since then.

The plastic could have dislodged after a 2:45 a.m. CDT test firing on Tuesday of the shuttle's 44 steering jets. The jets are fired by the astronauts as part of their standard landing preparations.

Morón Air Base, southeast of Seville, is an emergency landing site if something goes wrong soon after the launch of a space shuttle. A Navy medical team in Rota always stands by during each launch.

A landing Monday, he said, was a "no go." The shuttle will continue in orbit Monday and attempt a landing at the space center on either of two successive orbits Tuesday, at 5:07 a.m. or 6:43 a.m.

NASA on Wednesday gave space shuttle Atlantis the all-clear to come home this morning after a stem-to-stern inspection prompted by a mysterious flurry of orbital litter found no damage to the ship.