There are now six more shuttle flights to the space station
The space shuttle Discovery landed safely a few minutes ago (03:53) at Edwards Air Force Base in California. This after the original plan to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was canceled due to bad weather.
This time the shuttle was on a supply mission to the International Space Station with seven astronauts on board. The spacecraft carried a furnace and freezer to the station for use in scientific experiments. It also brought up new sleeping quarters, an air purification system and a training system to keep the astronauts healthy. In addition one of the staff members was replaced at the station when Nicole Scott replaced Tim Cooper who stayed at the station for 44 days.
The mission consisted of three spacewalks, in which the depleted ammonia tank was replaced with a gas used for the station's cooling system.
The astronauts also prepared the infrastructure for the installation of an observation component at the station known as a cupola, which will be raised on one of the next shuttle missions, and will provide the astronauts with an observation point on Earth and space.
There are now six more shuttle flights left before NASA retires the fleet at the end of 2010. The next launch will be Atlantis in November. In this mission, essential spare parts will be brought to the station.
