STS-124: Discovery Lands At KSC
By TonyF on 14 June 2008 at 12:15PM
Shuttle Discovery returned to Florida today from a successful two-week mission to the ISS. NASA reports:
Image above: Space shuttle Discovery lands at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Photo credit: NASA TV
Space shuttle Discovery glided through a clear Florida sky this morning before touching down safely at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 11:15 a.m. EDT. With Commander Mark Kelly at the controls, the shuttle ended two weeks in space that saw the crew install the large Japanese Pressurized Module on the International Space Station. The 36-foot-long cylinder is the largest habitable module on the space station.
Kelly, Pilot Ken Ham and Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Greg Chamitoff and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide launched from Kennedy on May 31. Chamitoff remained on the International Space Station for a six-month mission in space. He replaces Garrett Reisman, who came back with Discovery's crew.
The crew will remain inside Discovery for about an hour, going through a number of procedures so ground crews can move in and ready the shuttle for its slow trip to its processing hangar.
Image above: Space shuttle Discovery jettisons its drag chute as it rolls down the runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery landed on-time at 11:15 a.m. EDT to end the STS-124 mission. Image credit: NASA
Landed: Sat., June 14, 2008, 11:15 a.m. EDT
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mission Elapsed Time: 13 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes, 7 secs
Official Landing Times
Main gear touchdown: 11:15:19 a.m. EDT
Nose gear touchdown: 11:15:30 a.m. EDT
Wheels stop: 11:16:19 a.m. EDT
Total miles: 5.7 million
Live chat at Bad Astronomy. Discussions at Nasaspaceflight. Official NASA landing blog here.
Landing video here. Landing pics at KSC. Discussion here. Status Report #29 here. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
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