Topic: Space Shuttle Landing Today: Shuttle Landing Path Flies Over USA

[KennedyP]

At 9:09 a.m. Eastern Time this morning, the space shuttle successfully touched down in Florida, bringing the spectacular shuttle landing path to an end. NASA officially announced the completion of the space shuttle landing today after the shuttle landing path took Discovery and the crew over much of the United States - from state parks in Montana to a payday loan store in Georgia. This was the third space shuttle landing attempt, after two scrubbed landings yesterday.


Space shuttle landing today nearly scrubbed again

The Florida space center NASA crew was trying for the third time today to land the space shuttle. Bad weather and thick clouds canceled two different tries yesterday. Rainstorms and thick clouds caused the space shuttle landing today to be delayed by one full Earth orbit. After 238 complete circles around the earth, space shuttle Discovery touched down in Florida.


The shuttle landing path across the USA

The space shuttle landing path prepared for Discovery was a very unusual path for NASA flights. Ever since the Columbia disaster in 2003, which scattered debris across California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas, NASA has scheduled the shuttle landing path so that it doesn't go overland. However, the Discovery shuttle landing path allowed the crew to get several additional hours in space also as a payday loans' worth of hours of extra sleep before the space shuttle landing today. Because of the unusual shuttle landing path, people in a large swath of the United States got to both see and hear the Discovery space shuttle landing today.


Next NASA Space shuttle mission
On May 14, the next NASA shuttle mission is scheduled to leave Earth. When Atlantis launches, it can be the first of the remaining 3 flights of the current NASA space program. Discovery will make the last space flight of its life on Sept 16. After retiring the space shuttle fleet in October, NASA has been instructed to shift focus to projects like landing on Mars.