Sun, May 24, 2009
Amazing Mission Comes To End On RWY 22
What a rush! One of
the most aggressive missions in NASA history is now over, as the
crew of STS-125 made a safe and pretty good-looking landing on RWY
22 at Edwards AFB, with 15-21 knot winds coming at them right down
the runway some 12 days and nearly 22 hours after they started
their journey. The trip covered some 5.3 million miles, overall and
was completed at 11:40:15 AM EDT.
After waving off the first attempt, NASA cleared Atlantis for
landing in the California Desert at 10:09:55 AM EDT. The burn began
at 10:24 a.m., with the two OMS engines burning for 2 minutes and
36 seconds to put them into a re-entry profile for the return
home.
Upon wheel stop, Commander Scott Altman told mission control
that the mission had been "a thrill from start to finish."
Atlantis arrived at the Hubble Space Telescope on May 13, and the
STS-125 crew performed five spacewalks on five consecutive days to
repair and upgrade the telescope.
The last space shuttle mission to end at Edwards was STS-126 on
Nov. 30, 2008. That mission was commanded by astronaut Chris
Ferguson.
Today, Ferguson flew the Shuttle Training Aircraft as he
monitored the weather conditions at Edwards and cleared the way
home for Atlantis.
Offical Landing Stats: Main gear touchdown
occurred at 11:39:05 a.m., followed by nose gear touchdown at
11:39:15 a.m. and wheelstop at 11:40:15 a.m.
Main gear touchdown took place at 12 days, 21 hours, 37 minutes
and 9 seconds into the flight, followed by nose gear touchdown at
12 days, 21 hours, 37 minutes and 19 seconds and wheelstop at 12
days, 21 hours, 38 minutes and 19 seconds. This was the 126th space
shuttle mission and the 30th flight for Atlantis. Today's landing
is the 53rd at Edwards.
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