Shuttle Discovery glided to a safe landing at Kennedy Space Center today, winding up a highly successful mission to complete the International Space Station's central truss and deliver a fourth and final set of massive American solar wings.With mission commander Lee Archambault at the controls, the shuttle and its seven astronauts make n hour-long plunge back through the atmosphere and then arced out over the Atlantic Ocean before making its final approach to Runway 15 at KSC.
Discovery touched down at 3:13 p.m. and then rolled to a stop on the three-mile long concrete strip."Wheels stop, Houston," Archambault radioed to NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston.
"Welcome home Discovery after a great mission to bring the International Space Station to full power," fellow NASA astronaut George Zamka replied. "A special welcome home to Sandy (Magnus) after living and working onboard ISS as a member of Expedition 18, and to the entire crew of STS-119. Great job everybody."
"Discovery, thank you very much," said Archambault: "It's good to be back home."
The landing was about 12 days, 19 hours and 30 minutes after its spectacular March 15 launch from pad 39A, just about five miles east of the runway.
Riding home with the shuttle crew in a recumbent seat: NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, who returned to Earth after serving a stint as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station. Magnus spent 134 days in orbit.
Discovery landed on its second and final opportunity of the day. NASA decided to forego a 1:39 p.m. landing opportunity as a result of cloud cover and stiff crosswinds at the runway.
A sea breeze pushed some of the cloud cover away and cause winds to shift. Archambault landed in a stiff headwind, but one that was well below the 25-knot limit.
Discovery's mission was the 125th for the shuttle program, the 100th since the 1986 Challenger disaster, the 70th to land at KSC and the 36th for Discovery.
ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge the top image of Discovery gliding in for landing at Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: Florida Today/Craig Rubadoux. The second image is a NASA TV screen grab.
2 comments:
Yikes...this was the first landing I can remember missing live. I was in the garage building little riding cars for my two-year-olds and lost track of time. Oh, well...glad she landd safely.
Mark
That's OK Mark - It was the first time I ever had a chance to see a live landing - so don't feel too bad - it was AWESOME!
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