A silhouette of Discovery while it lands amid a Floridian sunrise.
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NASA TV
Discovery Lands Without a Glitch
News story originally written on August 19, 1997
Discovery finished its 12-day, 4.7 million mile mission as it landed at Kennedy Space Center today. Commander Curt Brown guided Discovery down the runway after touchdown 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's landing was postponed one day because of the threat of ground fog. The astronauts enjoyed their extra 24 hours in space. They even had a bit of time to do some leisurely space sight-seeing. The astronauts will undergo brief medical examination at KSC and be reunited with their families before flying to Houston later this afternoon.
This shuttle mission, STS-85, was designed to study the Earth's atmosphere, particularly the ozone layer. The crew also tested a small robotic arm intended for use on the future international space station, and looked at the comet Hale-Bopp with an ultra-violet telescope.
NASA intends to launch Atlantis on September 25th. The shuttle will be making a trip to Russia's crippled space station Mir.
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