|
Space shuttle Atlantis has touched down at the Edwards Air Force Base in California bringing Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams back to earth after a record 195-day stay in space.
The spacecraft touched down at 0119 IST.
Mission managers had to divert Atlantis to Edwards in the Mojave Desert as poor weather at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral forced mission managers to skip three landing attempts there over the last 24 hours.
The spacecraft began its fiery descent to earth with Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Lee Archambault firing the space shuttle's engines at 0113 IST. The de-orbit burn slows down the shuttle for its return through Earth's atmosphere.
Williams was riding back to Earth lying on her back to ease the transition back to gravity as she had lived in the weightless conditions aboard the International Space Station since December.
Williams crossed the milestone for longest uninterrupted stay by a woman in space on Saturday last surpassing the 188-day, four-hour mark set by US astronaut Shannon Lucid in 1996 on a mission to the Russian Mir space station.
As Atlantis crossed the Pacific and glided over the runway at Edwards Air Force Base in Califonia, several people recalled the tragic memories of the Columbia disaster of 2003, in which India-born Kalpana Chawla and six others perished.
During its 13-day mission, Atlantis delivered a truss segment for the international space station and a replacement for Williams.
Atlantis also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson who replaced Williams.
During their stay, the Atlantis crew worked on the on-orbit construction of the station with the installation of the Starboard 3 and 4 truss segment.
The crew installed the truss on Monday last and conducted four spacewalks to activate the it and assist in the retraction of solar array.
During the third spacewalk, the crew repaired an outof-position thermal blanket on the left orbital manoeuvering system pod.
Earlier on Tuesday, the crew overcame a computer-meltdown and repaired the heat shield of the shuttle, before undocking from the space station.
Williams had set off from Cape Canaveral in December nine last year on space shuttle Discovery for what was to become the longest space journey by a woman.
Although it is only her first space flight, Williams became the world's most experienced woman walker in space on 4th February with four excursions clocking over 29 hours and 17 minutes to top Kathy Thornton's 21-hour space walking record.
During her stay at the space station, Williams has worked with experiments across a wide variety of fields, including human life sciences, physical sciences and Earth observation as well as education and technology demonstrations.
Some of these experiments give scientists critical insight into the effects of weightlessness on human bodies while others show ways to prevent effects already known about like muscle and bone loss.
In addition to rigorous exercise, Williams also collected and stored her blood while in space to add to an ongoing study on nutrition, another key element of living in space for long stretches of time.
The results of this study may impact nutritional requirements and food systems developed for future ventures in space.
|
