You have commented 375 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Home Front: Tech
Discovery lands safely for the last time
2005-08-09
EFL

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The Space Shuttle Discovery touched down safely in California Tuesday after spending two weeks in space, making it the first and final successful shuttle landing since Columbia broke apart over two-and-a-half years ago.

The shuttle landed as scheduled at 8:12 a.m. EDT, which was 5:12 a.m. PDT — well before sunrise in California. A friend said the booms woke her up and got all the dogs barking. A NASA news conference to ask for more money to accomplish nothing is expected later today.

After thunderstorms in Florida prevented the spacecraft from returning to its home base, NASA officials rerouted the shuttle to Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert.

Mission managers said they were confident that the thermal protection system would protect the orbitor during re-entry and anticipated a smooth landing.

The inherently dangerous ride down through the atmosphere — more anxiety-ridden than normal because of what happened to Columbia 21/2 years ago — skipped most of the continental United States this time.

Discovery followed a course that took it over the Pacific and into Southern California. NASA officials had said they would adjust the flight path so the shuttle would skirt Los Angeles, because of new public safety considerations by NASA in the wake of the Columbia accident.

"It's going to be a new beginning for the space shuttle program," NASA's spaceflight chief, Bill Readdy, said from the Cape Canaveral landing strip. Some religions say death is a New Beginning.

With its launch on July 26, Discovery became the first shuttle to fly since Columbia's catastrophic re-entry in 2003. But its flight to the international space station could be the last ever for a long while.

NASA grounded the shuttle fleet after a nearly 1-pound chunk of insulating foam after the original kind was rejected by the Clinton administration's political appointees broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during liftoff — the very thing that doomed Columbia and was supposed to have been corrected.

Discovery spent nine days hitched to the space station, where astronauts resupplied the orbiting lab and removed broken equipment and trash — one of the main goals of the mission. That included an extra day that was added following the cancellation suspension of future flights, so the astronauts could do more work at the station. Discovery was the first shuttle to visit the orbiting outpost since 2002.

As a result of Columbia, Discovery's crew performed intense inspections of their ship on five different days. Astronauts also did a spacewalk to test new repair techniques and replaced a failed gyroscope on the station during another spacewalk.

In a third, unprecedented spacewalk, two protruding thermal tile fillers were removed from Discovery's belly. Engineers feared the material could cause dangerous overheating during re-entry.

Shut down NASA and RIF every single employee, down to the janitors. Then start over.
Posted by:Jackal

#11  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2005-08-09 18:05  

#10  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Cheaderhead   2005-08-09 17:47  

#9  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2005-08-09 17:35  

#8  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Cheaderhead   2005-08-09 17:31  

#7  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: OldSpook   2005-08-09 17:28  

#6  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: eLarson   2005-08-09 14:51  

#5  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Cheaderhead   2005-08-09 13:30  

#4  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Cheaderhead   2005-08-09 13:27  

#3  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Seafarious   2005-08-09 12:42  

#2  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Flash Hupomoling8954   2005-08-09 12:32  

#1  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Edward Yee   2005-08-09 12:24  

00:00