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dan9999
04-20-2010, 12:00 PM
Shuttle gets go-ahead for Florida landing
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 20, 2010 7:01 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Space shuttle Discovery is on track to land at 9:08 a.m. ET Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center, after an opportunity to land earlier in the day was waved off because of weather, NASA said.

On Monday, bad weather prompted mission managers to scrap two landing opportunities at the space center.

The shuttle launched on April 5 and docked to the International Space Station two days later.

It marked the first time four women have been in space at one time.

Three women -- mission specialists Stephanie Wilson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki -- make up part of Discovery's seven-member crew.

NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson was already at the space station.

The astronauts' trip included three spacewalks and delivery of more than seven tons of equipment and supplies.

There are only three shuttle missions remaining before the space shuttle fleet is retired.

The volcanic ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which has caused widespread flight disruptions throughout the world, did not affect the landing plans, NASA said.

The shuttle's re-entry course was not near the ash cloud, the agency said.