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Space shuttle Discovery lands safely in California

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 07:54 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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