Atlantis, crew land in Calif. after Hubble mission

[onehandle]

Source: AP

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Space Shuttle Atlantis and its crew of seven returned to Earth on Sunday, ending their exalted Hubble Space Telescope repair mission in California after stormy weather prevented a return to NASA's Florida home base.

Mission Control waited as long as possible for the weather to improve before finally giving up and directing commander Scott Altman and his crew to the Mojave Desert.

Atlantis swooped through a clear morning sky and touched down on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base.

"Welcome home, Atlantis," Mission Control radioed once the shuttle came to a safe stop. "Congratulations on a very successful mission giving Hubble a new set of eyes."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090524/ap_on_sc/us_shuttle_hubble

[Captain Hilts]

1. I love the way the landings are filmed/broadcast. nt

[Trajan]

2. I remember working inside of a Shuttle in Palmdale ...

And hearing the 'double boom' of a Shuttle landing at Edwards ....

I just smiled ....

[kimmylavin]

5. I live near Palmdale!

And I totally missed it... so bummed. :)

[Politicalboi]

6. I live in Quartz Hill

And it woke me up, but just briefly.

[Tikki]

7. I live along the Central Coast...BOOM BOOM...

:)


Tikki

[donco6]

3. Yay! A mission we can all celebrate, IMO.

Glad they're home safe.

[shadowknows69]

4. Indeed, now mothball that freaking fleet and build something new for our 'nauts

[Subdivisions]

12. That something new just for you, shadow:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html">The Constellation Program
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/index.html">The Ares Rockets



http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/index.html">The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle



http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/altair/index.html">The Altair Lunar Lander




NASA is throwing back to the golden days of yore when men flew rockets to the Moon instead of airplanes to low Earth orbit. I sincerely hope NASA doesn't become a victim of the current economic disaster, though some would no doubt gladly bid it farewell.

And, let's all give a warm DU welcome to new NASA adinistrator, and Obama appointee, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6438384.html">four-time shuttle astronaut Cmdr. Charles Bolden! I know he'll server America well.

[shadowknows69]

14. Sweet, sometimes the older designs, with upgrades of course, are the best

[fortyfeetunder]

8. A big-@$$ sigh of relief.

I was extremely worried about the tile situation reported earlier in the mission. I purposely didn't look or listen to the news until I learned the shuttle landed safely. Guess I still have not recovered over Columbia.

I am glad the mission was a success and the shuttle landed safely.

[Posteritatis]

9. I'm pretty sure the tile situation has happened in every single launch

The media just starts spinning it up hoping for a disaster every time now, while before it was seen as something between a non-issue and an occupational risk of spaceflight.

[Bossy Monkey]

10. Hot freaking damn, yahoo, welcome home indeed! K&R n/t

[sce56]

11. Too bad it was so early with not enough warning I could have watched it land instead of hearing BOOM

BOOM! But I did see it land back in 2002 & 1989 at Edwards!

[proteus_lives]

13. Heroes, everyone of them.

It must be so amazing to be in space. I can't even imagine.

[slackmaster]

15. We didn't get a sonic boom down here in the lower left corner

:-(

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. What ever happened to launching the shuttle in California?

My girlfriends dad worked on the construction of the shuttle launch facilities at Vandenberg AFB.

[onehandle]

17. Originally NASA planned several launch sites, and not just in the U.S.

By the early eighties, budget restrictions brought that down to one on each coast.

By the mid eighties the Vandenberg was ready and would essentially be the military mission launch site.

The explosion of Challenger in 1986 ended that notion. All extra cash was put into making the Shuttles safer.