Atlantis Coasts to Smooth Finale of Space Mission

The space shuttle Atlantis glided over Malibu and touched down here under perfect weather conditions Monday, ending a flight that had been plagued by foul weather, real and predicted, at both ends of the mission.

Concerned that strong winds might threaten the landing, mission controllers brought the spacecraft down three hours early to take advantage of a calm morning. The Atlantis landed at 9:32 a.m. on a clear, spectacular morning with only a slight breeze in the air.

At the time of the landing, the wind “was like nothing,” noted William B. Lenoir, acting associate administrator for space flight of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Within a couple of hours, however, it started to pick up.

“Congratulations, Atlantis, you’ve extended the shuttle’s reach to the outer planets,” Mission Control radioed the craft as it rolled to a stop on the dry lake bed. The Atlantis launched the $1.4-billion Galileo spacecraft toward Jupiter, the first spacecraft ever launched by a shuttle for one of the outer planets.

“Roger,” answered shuttle commander Donald E. Williams. “It’s nice to be home.”

Compared to the giant crowds of the past, a relatively small number of people were on hand to see the landing. Officials estimated the size of the crowd at 10,000 to 20,000.

The shuttle announced its arrival with twin sonic booms, caused by its delta wing configuration. Told they could change out of their protective landing suits, Williams asked about the weather outside.

“It’s 57 degrees,” he was told.

The Atlantis landed amid increasing concern over the weather because of a strong storm system to the north that has drenched the earthquake-wracked San Francisco Bay Area. Officials were prepared to keep the craft in orbit until Wednesday if weather at Edwards had forced them to go to alternate landing sites at either White Sands in New Mexico or the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Oddly enough, for a while Monday it appeared that fog instead of wind might jeopardize the landing. Fog is extremely rare on the dry lake bed that the shuttle uses as a landing field, Air Force meteorologists said.

“We were surprised with the fog, but everything worked out fine as soon as the sun came up,” Lenoir said.

During its five-day mission, the crew carried out a number of experiments, including some aimed at increasing the understanding of a problem that has plagued most shuttle flights--space sickness.

But the primary objective was accomplished on the first day, when the Galileo spacecraft was sent on its six-year journey toward Jupiter. The launch was contested in the courts and by protesters at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida because Galileo uses about 48 pounds of plutonium 238 to generate electricity to run its many instruments.

Protesters had argued that a catastrophic accident during launch could release the toxic substance at great public peril. But two courts agreed that NASA had complied with federal law in assessing the danger.