A silhouette of Discovery while it lands amid a Floridian sunrise.
Click on image for full size
NASA TV
Discovery Lands Without a Glitch
News story originally written on August 19, 1997
Discovery finished its 12-day mission as it landed at Kennedy Space Center today. Discovery touched down at 6:08 a.m. CDT. This wraps up the sixth shuttle mission of the year and the 86th mission in the shuttle program.
Discovery was suppose to land yesterday. It was postponed one day because of the threat of fog. The astronauts enjoyed their extra 24 hours in space. They even had time to do some sight-seeing from space.
This shuttle mission was designed to study the Earth's atmosphere, especially the ozone layer. The crew also tested a small robotic arm which will be used on the future international space station.
NASA intends to launch Atlantis on September 25th. The shuttle will be making a trip to Russia's crippled space station Mir.
You might also be interested in:

It was another exciting and frustrating year for the space science program. It seemed that every step forward led to one backwards. Either way, NASA led the way to a great century of discovery. Unfortunately,
...more
The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on October 29th at 2:19 p.m. EST. The weather was great as Discovery took 8 1/2 minutes to reach orbit. This was the United States' 123rd
...more
A moon was discovered orbiting the asteroid, Eugenia. This is only the second time in history that a satellite has been seen circling an asteroid. A special mirror allowed scientists to find the moon
...more
Will Russia ever put the service module for the International Space Station in space? NASA officials want an answer from the Russian government. The necessary service module is currently waiting to be
...more
A coronal mass ejection (CME) happened on the Sun early last month. The material that was thrown out from this explosion passed the ACE spacecraft. The SWICS instrument on ACE has produced a new and very
...more
J.S. Maini of the Canadian Forest Service called forests the "heart and lungs of the world." This is because forests filter air and water pollution, absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, and maintain
...more
In late April through mid-May 2002, all five naked-eye planets are visible at the same time in the night sky! This is includes Mercury which is generally very hard to see. You won't want to miss this!
...more