EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Reuters) - The space shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts glided safely back to Earth on Tuesday, successfully completing NASA's troubled return to human space flight 2 1/2 years after the Columbia disaster that killed all the astronauts on board.
NASA officials appeared relieved after the predawn landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. But the mission may be the shuttle's last for some time as recent safety upgrades failed to prevent Discovery from shedding insulating foam at launch, the same problem that doomed Columbia.