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CX2SA > NASA 09.08.05 20:27l 97 Lines 4610 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 20796_CX2SA
Read: GUEST
Subj: NASA CELEBRATES SPACE SHUTTLE
Path: ON0AR<ON0AR<TU5EX<CX2SA
Sent: 050809/2017Z @:CX2SA.LAV.URY.SA #:20796 [Minas] FBB7.00e $:20796_CX2SA
From: CX2SA@CX2SA.LAV.URY.SA
To : NASA@WW
SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT a/c #31468
>Allard Beutel/Melissa Mathews
>Headquarters, Washington August 9, 2005
>(Phone: 202/358-4769/1272)
>
>Alan Brown/Dwayne Brown
>Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif.
>(Phone: 661/276-3449)
>
>
>NASA CELEBRATES SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S HOMECOMING
>
> The Space Shuttle Discovery is home after a 14-day, 5.8 million-mile
journey in space. The mission included breathtaking in-orbit maneuvers, tests
of new equipment and procedures, a first-of-its-kind spacewalking repair, and
virtual visits with two heads of state.
>
>Commander Eileen Collins and the crew of the STS-114 mission, Jim Kelly,
Charlie Camarda, Wendy Lawrence, Steve Robinson, Andy Thomas and Soichi Noguchi
of Japan, landed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., at 8:12 EDT this morning.
>
>"We have had a fantastic mission," Collins said shortly after the crew
disembarked from the Shuttle. "We brought Discovery back in great shape. This
is a wonderful moment for us all to experience."
>
>Discovery's mission, the first of two Return to Flight test missions following
the 2003 Columbia accident, was one of the most complex space flights in NASA
history. The crew flawlessly executed its to-do list.
>
>After an on-time lift-off from KSC on July 26, the crew tested new
capabilities and techniques developed over the past two-and-one-half years to
inspect and possibly repair the Space Shuttle in orbit. Collins guided
Discovery through an unprecedented back flip maneuver as it approached the
International Space Station. The maneuver allowed the Station crew to snap
high-resolution photos that added to the wealth of new data mission managers
used to ensure Discovery was in good shape to come home.
>
>"It's going to be hard to top this mission," NASA Administrator Michael
Griffin said. "Everywhere you look, there's nothing but outstanding success."
>
>Robinson and Noguchi, with the help of crewmates, completed three spacewalks.
The astronauts repaired one Space Station Control Moment Gyroscope and replaced
another. Their efforts put all four of the Station's gyros back into service.
They also tested new repair techniques for the Space Shuttle's heat-shielding
outer skin and installed equipment outside the Station.
>
>When two thermal protection tile gap-fillers were spotted jutting out of
Discovery's underside, astronauts and other experts on the ground pulled
together to devise a plan to prevent the protrusions from "tripping the
boundary layer," causing higher temperatures on the Shuttle during atmospheric
re-entry.
>
>Ground controllers sent up plans to the Shuttle-Station complex for Robinson
to ride the Station robotic arm beneath the Shuttle and, with surgical
precision, pluck out the gap-fillers. Work on the Shuttle underbelly had never
been tried before, but with Thomas coordinating, Lawrence and Kelly operating
the robotic arms, and fellow spacewalker Noguchi keeping watch, Robinson
delicately completed the extraction.
>
>Discovery's astronauts and the Station crew, Russian Sergei Krikalev and
American John Phillips, transferred more than 12,000 pounds of equipment and
supplies to the Station. Discovery returned about 7,000 pounds of Station
material back to Earth.
>
>The crew got phone calls from two world leaders. President George W. Bush and
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered congratulations and
appreciation for all the astronauts' hard work.
>
>Commander Collins and the crew also paid tribute to the fallen astronauts of
Columbia, as well as others who gave their lives for space exploration.
>
>Over the next several weeks, engineers will process data from STS-114, the
first of two test missions for the Space Shuttle. Teams are already at work
looking into why a large piece of foam fell off the External Tank during
ascent. NASA managers have committed to understanding why the foam came off the
tank, and remedying it if necessary, before clearing the next Space Shuttle
Return to Flight test mission, STS-121, for flight.
>
>The Discovery astronauts will spend the next few days undergoing medical
checkouts, reuniting with their families, and returning to Houston. In about a
week, after undergoing preparations at Edwards, Discovery will be ferried back
to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., atop a modified Boeing-747 aircraft.
>
>For more about the Return to Flight mission, visit:
>
>www.nasa.gov/returntoflight
>
>-end-
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