Safe landing as Endeavour completes its last space flight
Source: Agencies |
June 2, 2011, Thursday
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THE space shuttle Endeavour touched down at its Florida home base yesterday, capping a 16-day mission to deliver a premier science experiment to the International Space Station on NASA's next-to-last shuttle flight.
Sailing through night skies, the shuttle and its six-man crew glided toward the Kennedy Space Center, circling high overhead to burn off speed and setting off a pair of sonic booms, heralding the ship's homecoming.
Commander Scott Kelly, a four-time shuttle veteran, gently eased the 100-ton spaceship onto the runway, touching down at 06:35GMT to complete Endeavour's 25th and final flight.
"Your landing ends a vibrant legacy for this amazing vehicle that will long be remembered. Welcome home, Endeavour," astronaut Barry Wilmore radioed to Kelly from NASA's Mission Control in Houston.
"It really is an incredible ship," Kelly replied. "It's sad to see her land for the last time but she really has a great legacy."
Endeavour racked up 198 million kilometers in 25 spaceflights. It will now be prepared to be put on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
NASA's attention shifts to sister ship Atlantis, which was rolled out to the shuttle's seaside launch pad as Endeavour headed back to Earth. Atlantis is slated to launch on July 8 on NASA's final planned shuttle mission, a supply run to the space station.
"It's going to be a long time until you see a vehicle roll out to the pad that looks as beautiful as that," said Atlantis astronaut Rex Walheim, who was at the Kennedy Space Center along with his three crew mates to watch NASA's final shuttle roll-out.
"An airplane on the side of a rocket. It's absolutely stunning," he said. The United States is retiring its three-ship fleet due to high operating costs and to free up funds to develop new spacecraft that can travel beyond the space station's 346-kilometer-high orbit.
The space shuttle Discovery returned from its final voyage in March. The primary goal of Endeavour's flight, the 134th in shuttle program history, was to deliver the US$2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector and a pallet of spare parts to the station.
The crew also made four spacewalks to complete assembly of the US side of the US$100 billion outpost, a project of 16 nations that has been under construction since 1998. The last piece to be installed was the shuttle's 15 meter-long inspection boom, which will now be used to extend the reach of the station's robotic crane.
It will be at least four years before NASA astronauts can fly out of the United States again. Until new ships are ready, Russia will transport crews to the station at a cost of more than US$50 million per person.
Sailing through night skies, the shuttle and its six-man crew glided toward the Kennedy Space Center, circling high overhead to burn off speed and setting off a pair of sonic booms, heralding the ship's homecoming.
Commander Scott Kelly, a four-time shuttle veteran, gently eased the 100-ton spaceship onto the runway, touching down at 06:35GMT to complete Endeavour's 25th and final flight.
"Your landing ends a vibrant legacy for this amazing vehicle that will long be remembered. Welcome home, Endeavour," astronaut Barry Wilmore radioed to Kelly from NASA's Mission Control in Houston.
"It really is an incredible ship," Kelly replied. "It's sad to see her land for the last time but she really has a great legacy."
Endeavour racked up 198 million kilometers in 25 spaceflights. It will now be prepared to be put on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
NASA's attention shifts to sister ship Atlantis, which was rolled out to the shuttle's seaside launch pad as Endeavour headed back to Earth. Atlantis is slated to launch on July 8 on NASA's final planned shuttle mission, a supply run to the space station.
"It's going to be a long time until you see a vehicle roll out to the pad that looks as beautiful as that," said Atlantis astronaut Rex Walheim, who was at the Kennedy Space Center along with his three crew mates to watch NASA's final shuttle roll-out.
"An airplane on the side of a rocket. It's absolutely stunning," he said. The United States is retiring its three-ship fleet due to high operating costs and to free up funds to develop new spacecraft that can travel beyond the space station's 346-kilometer-high orbit.
The space shuttle Discovery returned from its final voyage in March. The primary goal of Endeavour's flight, the 134th in shuttle program history, was to deliver the US$2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector and a pallet of spare parts to the station.
The crew also made four spacewalks to complete assembly of the US side of the US$100 billion outpost, a project of 16 nations that has been under construction since 1998. The last piece to be installed was the shuttle's 15 meter-long inspection boom, which will now be used to extend the reach of the station's robotic crane.
It will be at least four years before NASA astronauts can fly out of the United States again. Until new ships are ready, Russia will transport crews to the station at a cost of more than US$50 million per person.
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