While thousands of flights around the world are grounded due to the erupting volcano in Iceland, the massive ash cloud did not stop the shuttle Discovery as it returned to Earth from space.
The shuttle and its astronauts returned safely to Earth on Tuesday after making a rare flyover of America’s heartland to wrap up their 15-day, 6 million-mile journey to the International Space Station.
The crew of space shuttle Discovery, clockwise from left front, pilot James Dutton, mission specialist Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, mission specialists Clayton Anderson, Stephanie Wilson, Rick Mastracchio and commander Alan Poindexter leave the Operations and Checkout building on their way to board the shuttle on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday, April 5, 2010. Discovery will travel on a mission to the International Space Station.(AP Photo/John Raoux)
The touchdown was delayed by rain and fog that dissipated as the sun rose, allowing Mission Control to take advantage of the morning’s second landing opportunity.
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Shuttle commander Alan Poindexter held a small U.S. flag as he stood in front of Discovery, two hours later, and described the “beautiful entry.”
“We got the bonus of coming over the entire United States, and it was just absolutely gorgeous,” said Poindexter, flanked by his six crewmates. “The entire entry track took us over the Rockies and over the Midwest and across the Mississippi Delta. It was just a fantastic entry.”
Discovery swooped through a hazy sky before landing a day late because of rain.
“Welcome home,” Mission Control said, radioing congratulations.
“It was a great mission. We enjoyed it,” Poindexter said. “And we’re glad that the International Space Station is stocked up again.”
For days, NASA had promised a spectacular show, weather permitting, for early risers along Discovery’s flight path.
With the space shuttle program winding down, there weren’t expected to be any more continental flyovers.
This was, in fact, Discovery’s next-to-last flight. Only one more mission remains for NASA’s oldest surviving shuttle. As soon as it’s removed from the runway, it will be prepped for the final shuttle flight, scheduled for September.
Discovery zoomed over the North Pacific on its way home before crossing into North America over Vancouver, British Columbia. Then it headed toward the southeast, flying over northeastern Washington, Helena, Mont.; Wyoming; southwestern Nebraska; northeastern Colorado; southwestern Kansas; Oklahoma; Arkansas; Mississippi; Alabama; Georgia and finally Florida east of Gainesville.
NASA received reports of sonic booms being heard as far away as Tuskaloosa, Ala.
It was the first time since 2007 that a space shuttle descended over so much of the United States.
NASA typically prefers bringing a shuttle back home from the southwest, up over the South Pacific, Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. That way, there’s minimal flying over heavily populated areas. In 2003, space shuttle Columbia shattered over Texas during re-entry, but no one on the ground was injured by the falling wreckage.
NASA wanted to maximize the crew’s work time in orbit, while minimizing fatigue. That resulted in this North American crossing.
Before leaving the space station Saturday, Poindexter and his crew dropped off tons of supplies and equipment. Poindexter is the son of retired Navy Adm. John Poindexter, national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan.
The main delivery was a tank full of ammonia coolant, which took three spacewalks to hook up.
A nitrogen pressure valve refused to open after the tank was installed, and for a day, NASA considered sending the shuttle astronauts out on a fourth spacewalk to fix the problem. But engineers concluded it was not an emergency and that the space station crew or future shuttle fliers could deal with it.
History, meanwhile, was made with the presence of four women in space: three on the shuttle and one at the station.
Discovery returned with a couple tons of trash and discarded space station equipment. Most of that was jammed into a cargo carrier that was launched April 5 with three times that in fresh supply weight. The Italian-built carrier will be re-outfitted and fly back up on Discovery in September, and be installed permanently at the orbiting outpost.
Only three shuttle missions remain for NASA before the fleet is retired this fall after nearly 30 years of operation. Atlantis will carry up a small Russian lab and other equipment next month.
The same bad weather that prevented Discovery from returning to Kennedy Space Center on Monday also stalled Atlantis’ trip to the launch pad. The three-mile move from the hangar has been rescheduled for Tuesday night. Liftoff is targeted for May 14.
With The Associated Press
