A second day of strong wind prevented space shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts from landing in Florida on Monday, and had NASA considering a California touchdown. The forecast for the backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, however, called for low clouds and a chance of rain — unacceptable for a shuttle touchdown. The outlook improves Tuesday in California, but not in Florida. Mission Control had to pass up the first of Monday’s three landing opportunities at Edwards because of the poor weather. Flight controllers held out hope, however slight, that the clouds would disperse.Gusts of up to 28 m.p.h. at the Kennedy Space Center forced Mission Control to pass up Monday’s landing attempts there. The crosswind limit is 17 m.p.h. On Sunday, gusts of up to 22 m.p.h. whipped across the 3-mile-long landing strip. Later landing opportunities in California are at 4:58 p.m. and 6:35 p.m. CDT.
