Volcano's Ash No Threat to Space Shuttle Landing

The ash cloud belched by an erupting volcano in Iceland may have disrupted air traffic over much of Europe, but it poses no threat to NASA's planned Monday landing of space shuttle Discovery, agency officials said.
When Discovery re-enters the Earth's atmosphere Monday morning, it will be flying over the northern Pacific Ocean on a course that will take it over much of North America before it is due to land at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:58 a.m. EDT (1258 GMT).That trajectory is well clear of the ash cloud from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which has caused the worst global air traffic disruption ever seen, except during major wars, according to press reports."That smoke cloud will not cause Discovery any sort of issues during its re-entry on Monday," NASA spokesperson Josh Byerly said Saturday during mission commentary.
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