After 2-day delay, shuttle lands in California
Published 9:44 pm Sunday, May 24, 2009
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned safely to Earth on Sunday, detouring from stormy Florida to sunsplashed California to end a 13-day mission that repaired and enhanced the Hubble Space Telescope.
Atlantis’ crew had waited since Friday for the go-ahead to land as Mission Control hoped to avoid the time and expense — about $1.8 million — of diverting to California’s Edwards Air Force Base.
The Florida weather refused to yield and Mission Control finally directed shuttle commander Scott Altman to head to California. The shuttle’s twin sonic booms rocked the Mojave Desert as it swooped out of the morning sky.
Out on the runway after landing, Altman reflected on how long it had taken to get their mission under way — and then to end it.
“When we got down to Florida I looked at everybody and said, ‘At last,”’ Altman said. “I didn’t realize it was going to be so hard to get back to the Earth in the end. So again I guess I say the same thing, at last we’re back on the ground.”
The crew finally set foot on the ground about two hours after touchdown, receiving greetings from ground personnel before they began the customary walkaround to inspect the exterior of their spacecraft. It was uncertain whether the crew would return to their Houston homes later Sunday or today.
NASA officials said it will take about a week to prepare Atlantis for its ferry flight back to Kennedy Space Center atop a NASA Boeing 747.
During five spacewalks, the astronauts gave the 19-year-old Hubble new science instruments, pointing devices and batteries, and fixed broken instruments. The astronauts overcame stuck bolts and other difficulties.
Initial checkouts of the repaired Hubble were going well, NASA sciences chief Ed Weiler said. He noted that the telescope had yet to see any starlight but he said he expected it to gather data by August.
Much was made of Atlantis’ departure from Hubble as the last time it will be touched by humans, and Weiler acknowledged that was an “emotional moment.” But he wanted nothing to do with sad thoughts.
“Geez!” he exclaimed. “We just repaired the Hubble Space Telescope. We got a new telescope, four new instruments, two of them dead now alive. We’ve got another five, six, seven, eight years with the new telescope. These are truly the best of times not the worst of times.”
NASA eventually expects to steer Hubble into the Pacific sometime in the early 2020s using a robotic vehicle, though it’s possible that might be done with a crewed vehicle, NASA’s new Orion.
