spacetoday.net: Shuttle lands in California

Posted: Sat, Sep 12, 2009, 1:06 AM ET (0506 GMT)
STS-128: landing (NASA)

The space shuttle Discovery landed in California late Friday after weather conditions failed to permit a landing in Florida. Discovery touched down on runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 8:53 pm EDT Friday (0053 GMT Saturday), a few hours shy of two weeks after launch from the Kennedy Space Center. NASA had hoped to land Discovery at KSC, but poor weather conditions that scrubbed two landing attempts on Thursday also failed to permit a landing on Friday, leading NASA to opt for a California landing. During the STS-128 mission Discovery and its crew brought supplies to the station and performed three spacewalks to perform various tasks outside it. Discovery also returned with astronaut Tim Kopra, who spent two months on the station. He was replaced by Nicole Stott, who flew to the station on Discovery.