News From Space!

It was a big year for space exploration! Happy New Year everyone!

RIP President Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States. During his term, the Apollo-Soyuz mission was launched - the world’s first international space flight. His presidency saw the landings of the Viking probes to Mars, the unveiling of Shuttle Enterprise, as well as the opening of the National Air & Space Museum. As a congressman, he helped draft the legislation that would form NASA in 1958.

Track Santa’s Flight Tonight

STS-116 Post-Landing Press Conference scheduled for no earlier than 7:30PM EST. Watch live on NASA TV.

Discovery’s crew is still aboard, having completed a successful mission to the International Space Station. At the Shuttle Landing Facility, safing of the Orbiter continues. NASA reports:

STS-116 Home for the Holidays; Discovery Lands in Florida

Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at 5:32 p.m. EST at Kennedy Space Center to bring STS-116’s successful mission to the International Space Station to an end. The STS-116 astronauts continued the on-orbit construction of the station and delivered a new Expedition 14 crew member.

Discovery launched on Dec. 9 and arrived at the station on the 11th. The STS-116 crew installed the P5 spacer truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. Spacewalkers rewired the station’s power system during the second and third spacewalks, leaving it in a permanent setup. A fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew to retract solar arrays that had folded improperly.

Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of equipment and supplies to the station, most of which were located in the SPACEHAB cargo module. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station returned to Earth with STS-116.

Discovery spent almost 13 days in space and traveled 5.3 milion statute miles. STS-116 was the 117th space shuttle flight and 33rd by Discovery. STS-116 also was the 20th shuttle mission to visit the space station.

STS-117 is scheduled to launch no earlier than March.

Landing video here. Pics here.

Discovery is home after a 5:32PM EST landing!

The 225,000-pound Discovery orbiter is heading towards a sunset landing at at KSC. NASA reports:

Flight Controllers Go With Kennedy Space Center Landing Site
STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky fired Discovery’s jets at 4:26 p.m. EST to begin the descent to Kennedy Space Center for a 5:32 p.m. landing.

When Discovery lands, it will bring to an end a successful mission to the International Space Station. While at the station, the STS-116 crew continued the construction of the outpost with the addition of the P5 spacer truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks rewired the station’s power system, leaving it in a permanent setup. A fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew to retract solar arrays that had folded improperly.

Stay tuned…

Discovery is heading home to Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.