Smooth return for space shuttle
Source: Agencies |
November 28, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned to Earth with a smooth touchdown yesterday to end an 11-day flight that resupplied the International Space Station.
With bright sunlight glinting off it, the shuttle swooped through a clear sky and landed on the runway right on time. Mission Control said no one could remember such welcoming conditions. There were no clouds in sight for Atlantis's midmorning arrival.
"Couldn't have picked a clearer day," commander Charles Hobaugh said. Mission Control congratulated him on a "picture perfect" landing.
It was an especially sweet homecoming for two of the crew.
Astronaut Nicole Stott was away for three months, living at the space station. Fellow crew member Randolph Bresnik's baby daughter was born last weekend.
"Everybody, welcome back to Earth, especially you, Nicole," Mission Control radioed.
Hobaugh and his crew spent a week stockpiling the space station. They delivered spare parts and performed three spacewalks to install equipment and carry out maintenance.
The pumps, gyroscopes and storage tanks should keep the outpost in business for another 5 to 10 years.
Stott said all week that she couldn't wait to see her husband and 7-year-old son, who were at Kennedy Space Center for the landing.
Bresnik had even bigger plans: to hold his infant daughter for the first time. Abigail Mae Bresnik was born on Saturday, right after her father's first spacewalk.
With bright sunlight glinting off it, the shuttle swooped through a clear sky and landed on the runway right on time. Mission Control said no one could remember such welcoming conditions. There were no clouds in sight for Atlantis's midmorning arrival.
"Couldn't have picked a clearer day," commander Charles Hobaugh said. Mission Control congratulated him on a "picture perfect" landing.
It was an especially sweet homecoming for two of the crew.
Astronaut Nicole Stott was away for three months, living at the space station. Fellow crew member Randolph Bresnik's baby daughter was born last weekend.
"Everybody, welcome back to Earth, especially you, Nicole," Mission Control radioed.
Hobaugh and his crew spent a week stockpiling the space station. They delivered spare parts and performed three spacewalks to install equipment and carry out maintenance.
The pumps, gyroscopes and storage tanks should keep the outpost in business for another 5 to 10 years.
Stott said all week that she couldn't wait to see her husband and 7-year-old son, who were at Kennedy Space Center for the landing.
Bresnik had even bigger plans: to hold his infant daughter for the first time. Abigail Mae Bresnik was born on Saturday, right after her father's first spacewalk.
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