Space Shuttle Ends Record-Breaking Mission

The space shuttle Columbia and its crew glided to a graceful dawn landing Saturday, ending a record-setting mission of nearly 18 days that was marred by a jammed hatch.

“One little, sticky doorknob,” a weary commander Kenneth Cockrell said afterward about the door problem that scuttled two planned spacewalks.

Engineers will begin inspecting the hatch early this week and should know fairly quickly what caused it to jam, NASA officials said.

Despite the problems, Columbia’s mission ended on an upbeat note.

After low clouds and fog delayed Columbia’s homecoming two mornings in a row, the weather finally cooperated. Mission Control broke the good news to the five orbiting astronauts with a recording of the Navy song “Anchors Aweigh.”

About an hour later, Columbia swooped through a slightly hazy sky and touched down on the floodlit runway.

Length of the science mission: 17 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes and 20 seconds, 18 hours longer than the previous longest shuttle flight. Distance traveled: 7,043,950 miles.

The astronauts also successfully released and retrieved an ultraviolet telescope that peered at stars and a satellite that produced semiconductor film in the ultra-clean vacuum of space.

It was the last space voyage for astronaut Story Musgrave, who at age 61 became the oldest person ever in space. He also became the first person to fly six times on space shuttles.