When cloud cover still threatened after the second of two landing opportunities, NASA officials rescheduled the landing for Tuesday. For the next attempt, they will consider alternate landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base in California and at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, in addition to Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
"There's no agony," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said from the landing strip. He noted that the decision to put off Discovery's return until Tuesday came from chief astronaut Kent Rominger, who was flying the shuttle training aircraft through the cloudy sky over Kennedy.
Griffin said that on Tuesday, "We're going to land one way or another, one place or another, and all we're talking about is where."