A mysterious piece of debris near space shuttle Atlantis prompted NASA officials to delay the landing of the orbiter until at least Thursday.
NASA's mission managers are discussing the object that may have come off of Atlantis, WESH 2 News reported.
Flight controllers spotted the small black object floating near the shuttle shortly after astronauts fired their thrusters in a routine pre-landing test at about 2:30 a.m.
Shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said something "apparently shook loose" during the test. He said the shuttle vibrates and shakes pretty good during the pre-landing tests.
Hale said they think the object came from the shuttle because the mysterious object is co-orbiting with the shuttle, but Hale stressed that the object could be something as benign as ice.
Flight controllers want to know if the object might be part of the heat shield that protects the shuttle when it comes back to Earth.
Damage to the heat shield, in an extreme case, could require emergency repairs by the astronauts or a return to the space station.
Mission managers have told the astronauts to delay some of their landing preparations so that Mission Control can use the shuttle's camera system to look for the place where the object may have come from. The earliest the shuttle could now land would be at 6:21 a.m. Thursday at Kennedy Space Center.
The object could be harmless and insignificant.
Even if NASA could have worked out its technical issues, the weather for Wednesday's scheduled landing was marginal at best. Forecasters are watching a front that is moving through Florida.
So, Hale said the weather coupled with the floating debris was enough to call off Wednesday's scheduled landing.
With the supplies it has on board, the shuttle and its crew can stay in orbit until at least Saturday. If the delays were extended beyond that, the crew would have to return to the space station.
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