Discovery Space Shuttle lands safely

Discovery Space Shuttle lands safely

NASA has finally achieved what it aimed for 2.5 years back. A safe mission to space through its aging Space Shuttle fleet. Discovery made a safe landing in California after a two-week mission. Not everything was perfect during the mission, as the space agency had to repair the craft in the space by getting its astronauts to do a spacewalk. The last mission was a disaster as Columbia Space Shuttle collapsed during its return to earth killing the entire crew on board.

Discovery took with it a crew of seven astronauts and stayed in space for around 2 weeks. It carried the supplies, repair material for the International Space Station, and carried back the garbage. It landed at about 5:12 a.m. California time at Edwards Air Force Base, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Los Angeles. NASA had to delay the landing after the weather became a bit messy with clouds and possibility of rains.

Commander Eileen Collins told reporters after the landing: “We have had a fantastic mission. We are so glad to come back and say it was successful.” Administrator Michael Griffin addressed the nation in a television brief and said: “There are five places where foam came off the tank in pieces above our size limit. We don’t like that, but that I know of, that’s the only thing that went wrong with this mission in any imaginably significant way.”

The space agency has already suspended the fleet of the Space Shuttles after debris continued to fall down during the launch of Discovery much against expectations of the NASA. They have decided to not go ahead with another mission until they can cure this problem.