The space shuttle
Discovery
landed in California today to end a tense mission that was fraught with problems.
The descent back into the Earth's atmosphere was made without a problems, drawing sighs of relief from mission control.
The re-entry had not been attempted since the Columbiashuttle disintegrated just minutes away from landing, killing all seven astronauts on board in 2003.
Cheers went up as Discoverysuddenly appeared in view at around 1pm today, and the craft landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California at around 220mph right on time at 1.12pm, Irish time.
"We're happy to be back in, we congratulate the whole team for a job well done," pilot Eileen Collins told Mission Control. The crew disembarked from the shuttle just before 3.15pm Irish time.
Commander Eileen Collins
The weather was a problem right up to the re-entry, with two landing opportunities at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida cancelled two hours earlier due to storms.
Instead, the shuttle was switched to the clear skies of California. Touchdown was also delayed twice yesterday because of low cloud.
Tensions were high ever since take-off, when a piece of insulating foam broke off the external fuel tank. Unlike Columbia, which was doomed by a similar problem, Discoverynarrowly missed being hit by the chunk of foam.
Then astronaut Stephen Robinson made the first-ever orbital repair, gently pulling two strips of thermal tile "grout" away from the shuttle's heat shield.
The effort was a hailed a success, but that did not stop Nasa grounding its fleet until the problem is resolved.
Today's landing marked the 50th time a shuttle has landed at Edwards Air Base. Discovery's mission began on July 26th, spanned 219 orbits of Earth and 5.8 million miles.