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Crew exits from Discovery after smooth touchdown
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    • CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, July 17 (AFP) Jul 17, 2006
     Discovery's six crew members were all smiles as they stepped out of the space shuttle Monday after a safe end to their successful 13-day, 8.8 million-kilometer (5.5 million miles-) mission.

    After the shuttle's landing, the four men and two women, clad in blue overalls, were greeted on the ground by NASA chief Michael Griffin and other officials of the US space agency.

    They walked around Discovery to get a close look at the outside of the space vehicle they called home for 13 days.

    They left the orbiter about 90 minutes after their 9:14 am (1314 GMT) touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center, on Florida's Atlantic coast.

    "The final entry was beautiful," Discovery Commander Steven Lindsey said before leaving Discovery.

    "It was an exciting entry for us too," ground control responded.




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