Picture of the day - December 23, 2006

Space Shuttle Discovery Landing At Kennedy Space Center

Photo courtesy of NASA. On December 9, the Space Shuttle Discovery began Mission STS-116 with a spectacular nighttime launch, the start of a hugely successful mission that lasted almost 13 days! During it's 5.3 million mile round trip, Discovery docked with the International Space Station where the crew delivered much-needed supplies, completed a re-wiring job and added a new piece to the orbiting laboratory. Today's picture features Discovery preparing to touch down on Kennedy Space Center's runway 15, bringing the successful mission to an end. Shuttle launches get most of the attention simply due to the "awe" factor. Watching a space shuttle take off is an amazing experience, taking your breath away as the massive rockets turn night into day and shake the ground as they generate the 7 million pounds of thrust required to lift the 4.5 million pound shuttle assembly from it's perch and "shoot" the craft into earth orbit. But the landing is just as important, complicated and dangerous as the lift off! Landing a space shuttle is much different than landing even the largest airplane, and the slightest problem or miscalculation can spell disaster. A number of precisely-timed events must take place in a perfect manner in order for the orbiter to safely re-enter the earth's atmosphere, glide to the ground, touch down, and roll to a safe stop, and a problem during any phase of the process can cause serious complications - or worse! But yesterday, all went well and Discovery made a picture-perfect landing on runway 15 at 5:32 pm. It was a great ending to a great mission!   Submit a photo of your own! Picture of the day archives