Discovery comes home

		The US space shuttle Discovery touches down in the Mojave Desert on September 11, 2009 at Edwards Air Force Base near Rosamond, California, ending a 13 day-mission to the International Space Station. -- PHOTO: AFP

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - THE space shuttle Discovery touched down safely on a landing strip in California's Mojave Desert on Friday at the end of a 14-day resupply mission to the International Space Station.

Nasa diverted the spaceship to Edwards Air Force Base after waiting in vain for two days for rain and clouds to clear over the shuttle's home base in Florida. The shuttle landed at 8.53pm EDT on Friday (0053 GMT on Saturday, 8.53am Singapore time).

'Welcome home Discovery, congratulations on an extremely successful mission,' astronaut Eric Boe radioed to the crew as Discovery came to a stop.

Flight directors had tried on Thursday and Friday to bring Discovery back to Florida.

But rain and thunderstorms near Florida's Kennedy Space Centre stymied Nasa's original landing plans, prompting flight directors to switch to the backup site on the other side of the country, where skies were clear.

After 219 orbits around Earth, Discovery plunged back through the atmosphere, soaring north-east over the Pacific Ocean toward Southern California.

Appearing initially over the northeastern horizon as a white speck glinting in the fading sunlight, Discovery descended quickly to the base's main landing strip, touching down with a puff of smoke as the rear wheels made contact with the runway at a speed of 402kmh.

Double sonic booms earlier thundered through the sky as the shuttle dipped below the speed of sound for the first time since blasting off on Aug 28 one minute before midnight from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Nasa's 128th space shuttle mission.

Commander Rick Sturckow circled Discovery down over the California desert, burning off speed before nose-diving the 100-tonne ship to the concrete landing strip to complete a 9.1 million km journey. -- REUTERS

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