The Proverbial Sigh of Relief
The landing gear of space shuttle Discovery touched the concrete of the Kennedy Space Center's landing strip at 0914 EDT (1314 GMT) on Monday. The safe landing followed 13 busy days in space for its six crew members, whose mission has left International Space Station (ISS) ready for renewed construction.
"Thanks, it was a great mission, a really great mission and we enjoyed the entry and the landing," commander Steve Lindsey told mission control after touchdown.
And on that happy note, what do you say we permanently mothball the shuttle and move on to something safer, more efficient, and -- I can't emphasize this enough -- that has an actual future?