CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla -- The space shuttle
Discovery's apparently flawless landing
Friday capped a successful construction mission to the International Space
Station (ISS) and has NASA
celebrating the holidays a bit early, top agency officials said Friday.
"Christmas
came three days early for us," NASA launch director Mike Leinbach said after
the shuttle touched down here at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). "It was great
timing for us and it was a great Christmas present."
Discovery's
seven-astronaut crew concluded their STS-116
mission at 5:32 p.m. EST (2232 GMT), beating a bit of a drizzle and the
odds as the shuttle
touched down on Runway 15 here at KSC despite weather that was expected to
remain unacceptable [image].
"It was a
great landing and a great day," NASA chief Michael Griffin told reporters after
the landing. "The crew on orbit and the crew on the ground could not have done
better."
Discovery shuttle
commander Mark Polansky and his crewmates completed a 13-day
mission, touted by NASA as the most complicated ever staged, during which
they installed a new
piece of the ISS, overhauled
its power grid from a temporary set up to a permanent system, and ferried
cargo and a new crewmember -- NASA astronaut Sunita
Williams -- to the orbital laboratory.
"Discovery
is a beautiful vehicle, we're happy that we were able to bring her home safely,"
Polansky said from the landing strip tarmac after giving the shuttle a
once-over. "This mission is really a demonstration of how well we can work as a
team at NASA."
The STS-116
astronauts primed the ISS for the addition of new solar arrays, modules and international
laboratories, and returned European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter to Earth after about six
months as an Expedition 13
and Expedition
14 crewmember.
"We learned
a lot not only by the science made by Thomas Reiter, but also about all that we
learned about the space station," said Michel Togini, head of the ESA's
Astronaut Office, adding that Reiter's flight prepared his space agency to for
the delivery of its Columbus module
to the ISS next year and the launch of the Europe's first unmanned station
cargo ship, the Automated
Transfer Vehicle.
By landing
Discovery at its Florida launch site, rather than at backup landing strips in California and New Mexico, NASA cut down the amount of time, effort and money required to
prepare the spacecraft for its next flight: the Columbus laboratory's
launch to the ISS in October
2007.
Discovery's
KSC landing also brought Reiter to a waiting team of physicians poised for
medical checks after his extended spaceflight. In addition to Reiter, STS-116
mission specialist Nicholas
Patrick, a first-time shuttle flyer, rested after landing while Polansky, pilot
William Oefelein and mission specialists Robert
"Beamer" Curbeam, Joan
Higginbotham and ESA
astronaut Christer Fuglesang -- the first
Swede in space -- looked over their vehicle.
"I am very impressed
with Christer," said Per Tegner, director general of the Swedish Space Agency,
adding that Fuglesang's name translates to 'Bird Song.' "He performed very well
with Beamer and they made a great team."
NASA plans
about 13 more planned orbiter missions to complete the
station by its shuttle fleet's retirement
date of September 2010.
"There's
tremendous challenge in front of us," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator
of space operations, after launch, adding that obstacles will likely arise but
it vital to hit them head on. "We'll learn from it and we'll be better for it,
and these are things we need to know to do bigger things as far as the Moon and Mars and other
activities."
Leinbach
said that beating the weather on landing was a nice book, and lucky, bookend to
Discovery's
launch on Dec. 9. The orbiter shot spaceward on NASA's first night launch
despite an initial 70 percent chance of poor weather [image].
"It doesn't
hurt to be a little lucky every now and then," Leinbach said. "It feels good to
get lucky and it's good to have Discovery home."
Discovery's Dec. 22 landing also comes with a bonus: NASA can haul the orbiter
into its hangar and allow its veritable army of workers, astronauts,
contractors and engineers time to enjoy the holiday season before once more
preparing the shuttle for flight. That sentiment, it seems, was also echoed but
the shuttle's crew.
"We want to
thank everybody and wish everyone a happy holiday and a great New Year," Polansky
said.
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