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A triumphant mission ends for STS-120. Can't wait for the next adventure
Discovery Astronauts Return to Houston

From nasa.gov
Image Above: Space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven astronauts glided to a flawless landing Nov. 7, 2007, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After spending the night at Kennedy, the crew members boarded NASA jets for the flight back to their homes in Houston. Image credit: NASA


A day after making a perfect landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the crew of space shuttle Discovery took to the skies again, this time aboard conventional jets headed home to Houston.

Mission STS-120 Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Doug Wheelock and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli boarded NASA jets before taking off from the same runway they landed on less than 24 hours before.

NASA's Johnson Space Center planned a welcome ceremony for the crew in Houston.

The agency administrator and the astronauts said the mission's successful work on the International Space Station stood as a testament to NASA's ability to solve problems and move ahead quickly. Discovery's crew had to repair a torn solar array on the International Space Station during an unscheduled spacewalk. They also attached a new module called Harmony to the station.

"It really was a beautiful moment for NASA," Melroy said. "What you saw is who we are at NASA."