Mission of Discovery reaches successful conclusion
Despite being detoured by bad weather, the Discovery space shuttle made a smooth and safe landing late yesterday afternoon in Florida at the Edwards Air Force Base.
The mission was declared to be a success upon landing after a period of 13 days 20 hours 53 minutes and 45 seconds. During this time the voyage covered 5.7 million miles and 219 complete orbits since blastoff from launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 28.
Shuttle commander Frederick “C.J.” Sturckow and pilot Kevin Ford both emerged from the shuttle to receive congratulations from astronaut Eric Boe in mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Upon reaching the runway Sturckow commented that: “We’re very happy to be back on land here in California,” Sturckow said on the runway. “We wish we could have gone to Florida today, gotten to see our families down there, but it just didn’t work out with the weather.”
Discovery’s seventh crewmember, Timothy Kopra, made the return trip to Earth strapped into a recumbent seat on the shuttle’s lower deck in order to ease his transition back to gravity after 58 days in space. However, Kopra’s spirits were high as he told reporters: “I think there may be some effects, but hopefully I’ll recover quickly. This experience has completely exceeded anything that I thought it would be like, just the sights, the sounds, the experiences with a great crew and really being part of two shuttle missions. It’s been absolutely phenomenal.”