NASA officials were closely monitoring objects found floating around the Space Shuttle Atlantis on Wednesday, a day after officials delayed the shuttle's return over concerns about weather and floating debris. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said earlier that Atlantis's six astronauts would inspect the space shuttle once more before its scheduled return to Earth on Thursday.
On Tuesday, NASA delayed Wednesday's planned landing by 24 hours because of the discovery of a piece of unidentified debris orbiting near the shuttle, which may have come off the vehicle, and poor weather conditions for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A NASA commentator said a camera on board the shuttle had detected a new object floating near Atlantis on Wednesday. It was at least the third piece of debris found orbiting near the shuttle.
