Shuttle Returns Safely to Earth
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
HOUSTON — NASA engineers breathed a deep sigh of relief yesterday as the space shuttle Discovery and its six crew touched down safely in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in only the second flight since Columbia exploded on reentry in 2003.
“Welcome back, Discovery,” said Stephen Frick of NASA, speaking from mission control in Houston, Texas.
“This was a great mission, a really great mission,” replied Steven Lindsey, Discovery’s commander. “Enjoyed entry and landing.”
The six astronauts were declared to be in excellent health.
In the hours before touchdown, they took drinks every 15 minutes and salt tablets to increase the amount of fluid in their bodies and prepare themselves for entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
The shuttle made a textbook landing, with a double sonic boom generated by the nose and wings, followed by a gentle glide to the ground as it deployed its enormous rear pink parachute.
Discovery was in excellent condition, except for the expected blackening of its thermal skin.
