The Space
Shuttle Discovery is silhouetted as it makes its approach for landing Wednesday
afternoon, Nov. 7, 2007, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The
shuttle made a safe landing after a 15-day mission with an unexpected repair job.
While
delivering the Italian-built Harmony node to the International Space Station, the
shuttle crew ran into a snag when deploying two of the station's solar array
wings. The second wing had nearly fully extended when the astronauts spotted a
tear in its blanket. NASA quickly put together a spacewalk that used the
station's 50-foot robot arm and the shuttle's 50-foot inspection boom in
unprecedented ways. Astronaut Scott Parazynski rode the arm and boom to the site
of the tear, while crewmate Doug Wheelock monitored the repairs and advised Parazynski
when he was getting too close to the electrically-charged wing.
Upon return
to Earth, the shuttle Discovery crew was congratulated in person by President of
the United States George Bush for a "terrific
mission." This was also the first mission with both a female shuttle
commander (Pamela Melroy) and female ISS commander (Peggy Whitson).
– NASA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara
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