UNEARTHLY ENDEAVOUR SHUTTLE LANDS AT EDWARDS CARRYING RECORD-HOLDERS.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - Stymied from landing at Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral) U.S. launch site for manned space missions. [U.S. Hist.: WB, So:562] See : Astronautics by three days of Florida thunderstorms thunderstorms a storm characterized by thunder and lightning caused by strong rising air currents; identified as agents of animal disease because of their involvement causing (1) spasmodic colic; (2) lightning strike; (3) injuries of cattle acquired in stampedes initiated by storms. , space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. Endeavour returned to Earth on Wednesday with an International Space Station crew that set a U.S. record of 6 1/2 months in orbit. During nearly two weeks in space, Endeavour delivered one crew and retrieved another from the station, and its astronauts also did construction and maintenance on the orbital lab. ``It's not the place we intended to land but it's a great day here and we brought back a great vehicle and the expedition crew is in good shape,'' Cmdr. Ken Cockrell after stepping onto the runway at Edwards Air Force Base. ``We now have to go through the effort of getting Endeavour back to Florida.'' Completing its 18th space flight since it rolled out in Palmdale in 1991 as the replacement for the ill-fated Challenger, Endeavour touched down at 10:58 a.m under cloudless skies and a light breeze light breeze n. A wind with a speed of from 4 to 7 miles (6 to 11 kilometers) per hour, according to the Beaufort scale. Noun 1. . Thunderstorms in central Florida
Central Florida is the central region of the United States state of Florida, on the East Coast. caused National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), officials to wave off two landing attempts earlier Wednesday, just as they had done on Monday and Tuesday. Wind in the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley on Tuesday had canceled the possibility of landing at Edwards that day. This was the 49th shuttle landing at Edwards, which was the primary landing site in the shuttles' early years but now is used as a backup because of the $1 million cost of ferrying the shuttle back to Florida for launch. The last Edwards landing was in May 2001, also by Endeavour returning from a space station mission. This was also the first landing at Edwards by a returning space station crew. Delivered to the station on Dec. 5 by Endeavour, Russian cosmonaut cosmonaut: see astronaut. Yury Onufrienko and astronauts Daniel Bursch and Carl Walz spent 6 1/2 months on board - 196 days, breaking by eight days the endurance record for U.S. astronauts in space. The world record is 438 days, set by cosmonaut Valeriy Polykov aboard the Soviet/Russian space station Mir in 1994 and 1995. Endeavour glided into Edwards from the south, crossing the coastline near the Los Angeles-Orange county line with its distinctive double-sonic boom. There was nobody to watch it land other than NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. and Air Force workers, a few news media and Edwards residents, because post-Sept. 11 security restrictions kept the base closed to the general public. ``It was a picture-perfect landing,'' NASA Dryden Flight Research Center The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. spokesman Alan Brown said. After landing, both shuttle and space station crews were taken in for medical examinations. They all walked off the shuttle and looked to be in good shape, officials said. The shuttle crew - Cockrell, pilot Paul Lockhart, mission specialist Franklin Chang-Diaz, and French air force Col. Philippe Perrin - will fly today back to Johnson Space Center in Houston. The space station crew will ship out Friday. Their families, who had been waiting at Kennedy, were to fly out today to join them at Edwards. Aside from the cost of ferrying the shuttle back to Florida, NASA preferred to land Endeavour there this time because Kennedy has more facilities for the returning station crew. ``It's a lot of tests to determine the impact of zero gravity and how quickly they respond to gravity,'' NASA spokesman Doug Peterson said. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- color in AV edition only) The space shuttle Endeavour touches down at Edwards Air Force Base after bad weather prevented a Florida landing. (2 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) NASA personnel check the space shuttle's engines Wednesday after Endeavour's landing. (3 -- ran in AV edition only) A Gulfstream observation plane flies above as the space shuttle Endeavour deploys its landing parachute Wednesday morning at Edwards Air Force Base. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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