D-Bone
Dec 22nd '06, 05:15 PM
Seven astronauts and NASA?s shuttle Discovery are home for the holidays after a successful mission to rewire the International Space Station (ISS).
Despite a grim forecast of low clouds and rain, Discovery swooped down out of the Florida sky and loosed two sonic booms before making a twilight touchdown at NASA?s Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The sunset landing came at about 5:32 p.m. EST (2232 GMT), ending a complex 13-day spaceflight for Discovery?s STS-116 crew after 203 orbits around their home planet.
"I think it's going to be a great holiday," said veteran spaceflyer Mark Polansky, Discovery?s commander, as he thanked mission control after landing. "We're just preally proud of the entire NASA team and thank you."
Returning to Earth alongside Polansky were Discovery pilot William Oefelein, mission specialists Nicholas Patrick, Robert Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham and European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts Christer Fuglesang and Thomas Reiter. The astronauts had to wait one extra orbit to land at KSC due to the weather, NASA said.
?It?s been a fun mission,? Patrick, one of five first-time spaceflyers who launched aboard Discovery, told reporters Thursday. ?And I think a successful one.?
Read More: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/061222_sts116_shuttlelanding.html
Despite a grim forecast of low clouds and rain, Discovery swooped down out of the Florida sky and loosed two sonic booms before making a twilight touchdown at NASA?s Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The sunset landing came at about 5:32 p.m. EST (2232 GMT), ending a complex 13-day spaceflight for Discovery?s STS-116 crew after 203 orbits around their home planet.
"I think it's going to be a great holiday," said veteran spaceflyer Mark Polansky, Discovery?s commander, as he thanked mission control after landing. "We're just preally proud of the entire NASA team and thank you."
Returning to Earth alongside Polansky were Discovery pilot William Oefelein, mission specialists Nicholas Patrick, Robert Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham and European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts Christer Fuglesang and Thomas Reiter. The astronauts had to wait one extra orbit to land at KSC due to the weather, NASA said.
?It?s been a fun mission,? Patrick, one of five first-time spaceflyers who launched aboard Discovery, told reporters Thursday. ?And I think a successful one.?
Read More: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/061222_sts116_shuttlelanding.html