NASA cancels Saturday shuttle landing

Bad weather forced the cancellation of the landing of the space shuttle Atlantis on Saturday, and NASA said it would try to bring it back to Earth on Sunday.

"The weather at the Kennedy Space Center (in Florida) has not cooperated ... we are waiving for the day," a NASA official said.

Clouds and rain showers over Florida had already obliged NASA flight directors to keep the shuttle and its seven-member crew in orbit an extra day on Friday after its Hubble Space telescope repair mission.

Too much rain or too many clouds violates the space agency's criteria for a safe landing.

NASA has four scheduled opportunities on Sunday for Atlantis to land either at Kennedy Space Center in Florida or at the alternative touchdown site at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Atlantis has enough supplies to stay in orbit until Monday after its 12-day mission that repaired and upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope.

Due to the unstable weather over Florida, NASA is staffing its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.

Landing in California costs NASA more than $1 million and it takes a week or two to prepare and transport the shuttle on top of a jet carrier aircraft back to Florida for its next launch.