WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Following the successful completion of a 13-day mission on Runway 15 at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, crewmembers address those on hand to greet them. Mark L. Polansky, commander, stands at the microphone. William A. Oefelein, pilot, is at second right. Others, from the left, are astronauts Robert L. Curbeam Jr., Joan E. Higginbotham and European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang--all mission specialists. ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, who is returning from a six-month stay on the International Space Station, and astronaut Nicholas J.M. Patrick, a mission specialist, are not pictured. During the mission, three spacewalks attached the P5 integrated truss structure to the station, and completed the rewiring of the orbiting laboratory's power system. A contingency spacewalk was added to retract a stubborn solar array. Main gear touchdown was at 5:32 p.m. (EST). Nose gear touchdown was at 5:32:12 p.m. and wheel stop was at 5:32:52 p.m. At touchdown -- nominally about 2,500 ft. beyond the runway threshold -- the orbiter is traveling at a speed ranging from 213 to 226 mph. Discovery traveled 5,330,000 miles, landing on orbit 204. Mission elapsed time was 12 days, 20 hours, 44 minutes and 16 seconds. This is the 64th landing at KSC.