Discovery Returns to Earth; Next Trip Remains Uncertain

Space shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven returned to Earth on Sunday following a successful delivery run to the new international space station.

Hanging over the flawless nighttime touchdown, though, was uncertainty about the next shuttle flight and follow-up trips to the space station.

Columbia is supposed to lift off next month with an X-ray telescope, but the mission is in question because of doubts about the motor needed to boost the $1.5-billion observatory to the right orbit. And the Russian Space Agency’s money problems and delays in building the space station continue.

“I always hope for the best, plan for the worst,” NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said moments after Discovery landed.

As for launching the Chandra observatory by the end of July, Goldin noted: “At this point, I am not satisfied.” The mission may well slip into 2000, he acknowledged.

As for Russia’s ability to meet its space station commitments, he said: “I have cautious optimism . . . sometime in July, we’ll take a good, hard look, and then we’ll freeze the [assembly] schedule.”

It’s been frozen--and unfrozen--numerous times.

All that momentarily was set aside as Discovery emerged like a ghost ship from the night sky and touched down at 2:03 a.m. on Kennedy Space Center’s floodlighted runway. Infrared cameras tracked the shuttle’s approach.

It was only the 11th time that a space shuttle landed in darkness.

“Welcome home, Discovery, from the first docking mission to the international space station,” radioed Mission Control.

“It’s great to be home,” replied commander Kent Rominger.

The astronauts skipped the traditional shuttle walk-around and picture taking, and asked to be driven straight to crew quarters. They left Goldin and other top managers waiting on the landing strip, fueling speculation that one or more of the crew members might be nauseated, as sometimes happens to returning astronauts.