Kennedy Space Center Discovery Space shuttle Landing

Cape Canaveral (GaeaTimes.com) After delay of a day in its schedule and minor troubles caused by the weather, the Discovery Space Shuttle has landed safely at Kennedy Space Center with its crew of seven astronauts, after their 15 day 6 million miles of journey. The landing of Discovery Space Shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center was perfect though the landing opportunity was nearly spoiled when fog forced the flight controllers to pass on Discovery’s first landing opportunity early on Tuesday. Fortunately, there was no further problem in landing. The volcanic ash from the Iceland glacier did not affect the landing though it caused widespread flight disruptions throughout the world.

The space shuttle was actually scheduled to land on Monday but the plan was cancelled due to rain and cloudy skies. The crew had to spend an extra day in orbit after they had completed their 15 day mission of supplying resources to the space station. The main delivery was a tank full of ammonia coolant. Three spacewalks were needed to hook it up to the space station.

This mission made a history with the record number of women in space at the same time. There were four in space at a time. Stephanie Wilson and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger were the mission specialists and Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki were part of the seven member crew. NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson was already at the space station.

Atlantis Space Shuttle will carry up a small Russian Lab and other equipments next month with a targeted date of May 14 for the liftoff.