NASA Astronauts make safe landing at Canaveral

There were no foam problems like the one that brought down Columbia.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- The shuttle Discovery and its crew of six returned safely home Monday, rejuvenating a space program that until now had been vexed by the same chronic foam problem that brought down Columbia three years ago.
Within hours of the smooth touchdown, NASA was already looking ahead to the next shuttle launch in just six weeks and, with it, the long-awaited return to construction work on the half-finished space station.
"It's a good day," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said. "It's an awfully good day."
Discovery's commander, Steven Lindsey, who took a walk around the shuttle after landing, said he had never seen one look so clean and undamaged after a spaceflight. It was a striking achievement for a launch that was challenged by some within NASA who wanted more improvements to protect the spacecraft from flyaway foam insulation.
Lindsey noted that both of the mission's major objectives were accomplished: completing tests of the shuttle and its redesigned fuel tank, which now carries less foam, and readying NASA to resume space station construction, left hanging after the Columbia tragedy which killed seven astronauts.
"We're ready to go assemble station," Lindsey said in the shorthand typical of NASA engineers. "And we're ready to start flying shuttles on a more regular basis."
All around the Johnson Space Center in Houston, home to Mission Control, posters advertised the homecoming ceremony that was set for the astronauts today. "We're BAAAACK!" the signs shouted in big red letters.
Foam issues
The smooth landing left NASA officials jubilant, after conquering the potentially deadly threat of foam chunks breaking off the external fuel tank during launch -- still a problem, but not a serious one on this mission.
The largest piece of foam that came off Discovery's tank during the July 4 liftoff was barely bigger than a sheet of legal paper and weighed less than an ounce. Like all of the handful of notable foam chunks that peeled away, it came off late enough in the launch to pose no danger to the spaceship.
During the same shuttle's launch last summer, a 1-pound chunk of foam tore away at a crucial moment. Even though it missed Discovery, it stunned and embarrassed NASA, and forced a one-year grounding of the shuttle fleet, on top of what already had been a 21/2-year standdown.
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