Catching a break with the Florida weather Friday, the space shuttle Discovery made a perfect landing at Kennedy Space Center at 2:32 p.m. PST.
Mission controllers had waved off an earlier landing opportunity because of storms and low clouds, but the weather unexpectedly cleared enough to allow the attempt.
Had the weather not cleared at Kennedy, Discovery would most likely have had to land at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, the NASA team’s third choice for a landing site.
The primary backup is Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert, but crosswinds there were too strong to safely attempt a landing.
NASA officials had previously made the decision that they would land Friday at one of the three sites if at all possible because Discovery was running low on supplies, particularly the cryogenic oxygen used in the fuel cells that provide its electricity.
The craft was originally scheduled to land Thursday, but controllers extended the mission by a day to allow an unscheduled fourth spacewalk in which astronauts folded a balky solar panel into its container.
The shuttle could have stayed in orbit until Saturday, but NASA prefers not to allow supplies to get too low in case of unforeseen events.
Weather conditions were perfect at White Sands, and the landing strip there is ideal for the shuttle, but NASA preferred not to use the site because it lacks the heavy equipment necessary to load the shuttle on the back of the agency’s specially equipped Boeing 747 for a return to Kennedy.
A touchdown at White Sands would have delayed the turnaround for Discovery’s next mission by at least six weeks while a crane was brought in and assembled.
The seven-member astronaut team was pleased to land at Kennedy because their families were all waiting for them there.
“You have seven thrilled people right here. … I think it’s going to be a great holiday,” Discovery commander Mark Polansky said.
During its 13-day mission, Discovery made 204 orbits of the Earth, traveling 5.33 million miles. It was the craft’s 33rd mission and seventh flight to the International Space Station.
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