U.S. space shuttle Discovery lands safely

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 made its fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere
and swooped over the Pacific Ocean before gliding to a smooth
landing at 8:12 a.m. EDT (1212 GMT) at Edwards Air Force Base
in California after a 14-day mission that included a stay at
the International Space Station.

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.

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 Discovery’s 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.