Shuttle Returns Safely From Flight Shortened by Defective Generator

Flying on only two-thirds power, space shuttle Columbia returned safely to Earth on Tuesday after a research flight that was cut to just four days because of a dangerously defective generator.

NASA brought the seven astronauts back 12 days early.

Cmdr. James Halsell Jr. guided the 235,500-pound shuttle, the heaviest ever because of all the unused fuel, to a neat landing on the concrete runway. The two remaining generators evidently worked fine.

There were none of the usual congratulations or chatter after Columbia rolled to a stop, only a compliment from Mission Control for a great landing.

It was only the third time in 16 years of space shuttle flight that NASA brought astronauts home early because of equipment failure.

The crew did not make much headway in completing $100 million worth of experiments involving fire, metal, crystal and plants. The astronauts were able to ignite just 14 of 142 fires that should have been set to see how flames spread in weightlessness.

Minutes after touchdown, however, Kennedy Space Center Director Roy Bridges Jr. said Columbia might return to orbit with the same crew and the same experiments in July. NASA would have to keep the scientific equipment on board until then to save time and juggle its flight schedule for the rest of the year.