Discovery lands!

Posted on: Aug. 9th, 2005 || Source: cnn.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

Discovery lands!

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- The space shuttle Discovery touched down Tuesday morning, completing NASA's first shuttle mission since Columbia broke apart during re-entry in February 2003.

The shuttled landed at 5:11 a.m. PT at NASA's secondary landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

It was the 50th shuttle landing at Edwards.

Earlier Tuesday NASA waved off its two opportunities for Discovery to land at its primary site at Kennedy Space Center because of stormy weather off the Florida coast.

Weather conditions at Edwards included clear skies and light winds, "excellent conditions for a space shuttle landing," NASA said.

"How do you feel about a beautiful clear night with a breeze down the runway in the high desert of California?" mission control radioed commander Eileen Collins.

"We are ready for whatever we need to do," Collins said.

Discovery's path to Edwards began with the spacecraft firing its engines over the Indian Ocean to slow it enough to re-enter Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific.

"Discovery is on its way back to Earth," NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said.

Shuttle pilot James Kelly steered Discovery on a trajectory leading it near Los Angeles and Oxnard, California, with touch down at Edwards' Runway 22.

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