Space shuttle Discovery lands safely in California

By Nichola Groom

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Reuters) – The space
shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts returned to Earth
safely on Tuesday, bringing a successful end to NASA’s troubled
return to human space flight 2 1/2 years after the Columbia
disaster.

Discovery was traveling at 17,000 mph (27,000 kph) when it
made its fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and swooped
over the Pacific Ocean before gliding to a smooth predawn
landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California after a 14-day
mission that may have been the last shuttle flight for some
time.

NASA diverted the shuttle to California after bypassing
four chances to land at Discovery’s home port, the Kennedy
Space Center in Florida, where clouds and rain showers proved
troublesome.

“Congratulations on a truly spectacular test flight,”
astronaut Ken Ham at Mission Control in Houston told the
Discovery crew as the shuttle stopped on the runway.

“Welcome home friends.”

NASA accomplished its main goal for the mission — safely
launching and landing the aging shuttle. But when chunks of
insulation flew off Discovery’s fuel tank during launch, the
U.S. space agency learned it had failed to fix the problem that
doomed Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003.

Columbia disintegrated over Texas, killing all seven
astronauts on board. Investigators blamed the disaster on a
large piece of insulating foam that broke off the tank during
launch and punched a hole in the orbiter’s wing, allowing
superheated gases to enter as the ship returned to Earth.

SONIC BOOMS OVER CALIFORNIA

Radio communications between the shuttle commander and
mission control fell largely silent as the shuttle nose-dived
toward the Mojave Desert landing strip.

Double sonic booms sounded over southern California as the
shuttle dipped below the speed of sound for the first time
since its launch two weeks ago.

Pilot Jim Kelly was at the controls and steered Discovery
in a wide circle to burn off speed 30,000 feet above the runway
– a point in the flight the last shuttle, Columbia, never
reached.

Mission Control maintained contact with Discovery
throughout the descent. Shuttle commander Eileen Collins took
over the final maneuvers and gently eased the 100-ton
spacecraft onto the concrete landing strip.

“We’re happy to be back and we congratulate the whole
team,” she said.

NASA scored some notable successes on its long-awaited
return-to-flight mission, launched on July 26 after the agency
spent $1 billion on repairs and safety upgrades. Discovery
carried badly needed supplies and equipment to the space
station and used new technology, including laser scanners, to
search for damage on the outside of the shuttle.

Discovery’s crew performed three successful spacewalks –
replacing a faulty steering gyroscope and reviving another on
the space station.

But the crew also had to perform an unexpected repair with
an unprecedented and risky spacewalk to the belly of the
shuttle to remove bits of cloth filler protruding from the
spacecraft’s heat-shield tiles, which NASA managers feared
could cause dangerous overheating on re-entry.

The fuel tank foam problem prompted NASA to ground the
shuttle fleet until it can find a fix. The U.S. space agency
has set Sept. 22 as a target for the next shuttle launch.