Shuttle Discovery lands safely in California
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-09 20:25

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. 

The shuttle Discovery touches down on the runway after a successful re-entry, at Edwards Air Force base in California August 9, 2005. Discovery and its seven astronauts returned to Earth safely on Tuesday, bringing a successful end to NASA's troubled return to human spaceflight 2 1/2 years after the destruction of sister ship Columbia. [Reuters]

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.

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