DRYDEN'S SET FOR DISCOVERY LANDING NASA EYES NEW LAUNCH TRY TODAY IN FLORIDA.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE -- Workers at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center say they are ready if the space shuttle Discovery -- which could be launched today -- needs to land at Edwards Air Force Base.

Discovery, set to launch Saturday, was kept grounded by bad weather at the Florida launch site, but NASA officials say they will try again this afternoon. Forecasters predicted thunderstorms for the entire Fourth of July weekend, leaving the launch date uncertain.

But when it does go up, there's a chance Discovery will have to land in California instead of Florida.

And with NASA focused on its second flight test of shuttle improvements made since the 2003 destruction of space shuttle Columbia, Dryden is resuming its role as backup landing site.

``We prepare for an emergency landing,'' said Joe D'Agostino, Dryden's manager of shuttle support operations. ``If you can handle that, you can handle a nominal or early landing.''

NASA prefers to land the shuttles in Florida because it saves about $1 million in costs for ferrying an orbiter cross-country, but one out of every five missions ends at Edwards.

In August, shuttle Discovery completed the first return-to-flight mission with a landing at Edwards because of bad weather in Florida. Prior to that, the last shuttle landing at Edwards was on June 19, 2002, by the orbiter Endeavour.

Dryden, in concert with the Air Force, prepares by conducting a series of landing exercises and holding meetings to go over procedures.

``We feel very comfortable, looking over our exercises, that we're ready,'' D'Agostino said.

At Dryden, there's between 40 and 50 people, mostly contractors, who work on the space shuttle program on a regular basis. During a mission, scores of other workers are brought in to assist.

``At Kennedy (Space Center in Florida), everybody supports (the) shuttle,'' said Dryden spokesman Alan Brown. ``At Dryden, it's a different world. When there's a shuttle mission, that's Job One. Then (when it's over), you go back to your regular job.''

NASA will send about 70 or so workers to Dryden before a landing in case they are needed. If the orbiter does come to Edwards, a crew of about 200 comes out from Florida to help process the orbiter and get it ready for its cross-country flight.

The Air Force will also have about 200 people supporting a shuttle landing. Those workers include medical staff, security and fire personnel.

Between the time Columbia disintegrated in February 2003 over Texas and last year's Discovery mission, NASA invested about $10 million in equipment and improvements at Dryden to support shuttle landings.

A big chunk of NASA's shuttle investment at Dryden was a refurbishment of the mate/demate device, a gantry-like structure used to lift shuttles off the ground for post-flight servicing and to be attached to a modified Boeing 747 jetliner for the return to Florida.

NASA invested $2 million to remove lead-based paint and asbestos and to install new winches.