Posted
12/22/2006 05:34:00 PM
by Douglas
I don't think more people have ever been more excited to see a flight land in
FloridaSpace shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts safely returned to Earth on Friday after some last-minute suspense over which landing site to use, closing out a year in which NASA finally got construction of the international space station back on track.
Its arrival announced by its signature twin sonic booms, the spaceship touched down on a floodlit runway in the early evening darkness after a smooth, 13-day flight during which the astronauts rewired the space station and delivered U.S. astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams to the orbiting outpost for a six-month stay.
"It's a thrill to have you in Florida," Mission Control said.
A thrill, indeed. And as it passed over South Texas, from Laredo to Beaumont, many alert Texans could hear the sonic boom as it streaked across the sky on its way to Florida. Quite impressive.
It rattled my windows.