The rain blocked the way of the shuttle

The US Aeronautics Agency (NASA) yesterday announced the space shuttle Discovery will not return to Earth as planned due to the possibility of rain today.

Photo of Space Shuttle Discovery on April 16.Photo: AFP.

AP said that according to NASA's plan, Discovery and 7 crew members will land on the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today. However, because the space above the Kennedy Space Center is cloudy and there may be rain, NASA wants to ship tomorrow.

Alan Poindexter, commander of Discovery, said he did not feel worried about NASA's delaying decision. Instead, Poindexter was happy that he would stay in orbit for another day. Discovery has enough food, water and things needed to stay on earth orbit until April 21. The cloud of volcanic dust in Iceland will not affect the ship regardless of when it returns.

"The ash from volcanoes in Iceland does not affect Discovery's landing because of the ship's return route away from the dust cloud , " Kennedy Space Center announced.

Poindexter and crew members flew to the International Space Station to provide food, spare parts and scientific research equipment. Astronauts made three walks in space to install and replace equipment.