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Space Shuttle Discovery Returns Home

VOA News March 09, 2011

The U.S. space shuttle Discovery has touched down on Earth, successfully ending its final voyage into space.

The spacecraft and its crew of five men and one woman landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday, after a mission to the International Space Station.

The 13-day trip was Discovery's 39th and final mission, which included delivering a humanoid robot and a new external storage module to the space station.

Discovery is the oldest and longest-serving vehicle in NASA's shuttle fleet.

The shuttle is expected to be placed on exhibit either at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, or at its annex location just outside the U.S. capital, where the shuttle Enterprise is on permanent display.

It will be the first of NASA's three remaining shuttles to be retired. NASA plans to end its space shuttle program later this year after the final scheduled missions of the orbiters Endeavour and Atlantis.

NASA lost two shuttles in disasters over the past 25 years.

In January 1986, the shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board, including Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher being sent into space as part of a NASA program.

In February 2003, seven astronauts were killed when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated while re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.