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Discovery lands safely, ending a successful mission

Five men and one woman who flew back to Earth after two weeks in space today looked over the outside of space shuttle Discovery as it sat on the shuttle's runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

The shuttle landed on time at 11:15 a.m. EDT. Space station resident Garrett Reisman, KE5HAE, also returned with Discovery after three months in orbit.

Image above: Space shuttle Discovery lands at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Ken Ham and Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, surveyed the black heat shield on the belly of Discovery as ground crews serviced the spacecraft and NASA officials talked to them about the mission and landing.

"It was a really exciting mission and we're glad to be back here in Florida," Kelly said soon after Discovery landed.

The congratulatory spirit was shared by NASA officials who hailed the flight.

"I can't think of a mission really that's been better than this one," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator of Space Operations. "We're starting to break that tie to planet Earth and get out and do what exploration is."

Discovery returned to its base in good shape, said Michael Leinbach, shuttle launch director.

"It's just a terrific day here at the Kennedy Space Center."