"WELCOME HOME DISCOVERY!"
A slice of Life by V. Bee
August 10th, 2005
By V. Bee
After weather problems at Cape Canaveral, space shuttle Discovery's
landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California shortly after 5 a.m.
local time on August 10th 2005 was picture-perfect. Commander Eileen
Collins spoke for the crew saying they were "happy to be back."
NASA would have preferred that Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space
Center because it costs about $1 million to ferry the shuttle from
California back to Florida atop a specially modified Boeing 747.
The Discovery’s crew was composed of Commander Eileen Collins, pilot
Jim Kelly and mission specialists Siochi Noguchi, Andy Thomas, Wendy
Lawrence, Charlie Camadra and Stephen Robinson. Crew member
(Japanese) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, took three space walks during
this, his first space flight. Noguchi jubliantly declared the
view “priceless" when he rode the International Space Station's robotic
arm to Discovery's cargo bay. The shuttle astronauts spent nine
days at the International Space Station, delivering much-needed
supplies and replacement parts and hauling away a 2½-year
backlog of trash.
Discovery's journey, which began with a liftoff on July 26, spanned 219
orbits of Earth and 5.8 million miles. The inherently dangerous
ride down through the atmosphere was more anxiety-ridden than normal
because of what happened to Columbia 2½ years ago. But no
problems were immediately reported by Mission Control. Applause
broke out at NASA's Mission Control as Discovery re-entered the earth's
atmosphere minutes before landing.
Mission Control complemented Discovery’s crew on a truly spectacular
test flight, once the shuttle came to a stop. Even though NASA
has temporarily grounded the shuttle program, Discovery’s crew can hold
their heads up high - congratulations for a job well done!
Your thoughts? Drop us a line through our letters box.
