Shuttle Discovery with Russians on Board Lands Safely in Florida
Reuters - The space shuttle Discovery, with three astronauts aboard who spent almost half a year on the International Space Station, landed safely in Florida on Wednesday, ending a 12-day mission.
The shuttle landed at 2:23 p.m. EDT (1823 GMT), slipping in right behind a line of storm clouds that earlier had caused NASA to postpone the landing by one orbit.
The members of the space station's Expedition Two crew – Americans Susan Helms, James Voss and their Russian commander, Yury Usachev – made the hour-long ride to Earth in reclined seats so that blood would not rush from their heads as they returned to gravity. The three spent 167 days in space.
Shuttle commander Scott Horowitz was at the controls as Discovery landed. The orbiter had ferried the Expedition Three crew to the station when it launched on Aug. 10, along with almost four tonnes of supplies and science experiments for the new crew.
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27th August 2001, 07:33
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