Shuttle Returns to Edwards With Twin Sonic Booms

A pair of sonic booms signaled the return of the space shuttle Discovery as 1,000 people watched it land Tuesday at Edwards Air Force Base.

After a four-year absence from Southern California, the spacecraft touched down at 1:59 p.m., bringing cheers and applause from the crowd watching from bleachers at the base.

“Another beautiful show,” said Eugene Brown of Colton, who had seen several shuttle landings. “I’m a senior citizen who read about Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon when I was young and here we are.”

The shuttle had two scrubbed landings over as many days because of bad weather at the primary landing site, Cape Canaveral in Florida, and at Edwards. The seven-member crew was given the go-ahead Tuesday morning by NASA officials, marking the first shuttle landing at the base since 1996.

Danny Bazzell of Rosamond pulled his two sons out of school and made the short trip to Edwards to watch. He said his 8-year-old son, Sean, wants to be an astronaut.

“They can’t remember the last time it landed here,” Bazzell said.

For others, like Madeline Lucas, 33, of Tehachapi, the landing was a historic moment. Lucas had visited the base on a school field trip when she was 13. She received a souvenir shuttle tile but didn’t get to see a landing. This trip, she finally saw the spacecraft.

“I almost threw the tile away because it stinks, but my father kept it for me,” she said. The craft’s double sonic boom, created as the shuttle reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, was heard across Southern California.

“We got a rush of phone calls,” said Deputy Donna Levi of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Palmdale station.

During the 13-day trip, the Discovery crew completed 202 orbits and four spacewalks in preparation for the first permanent crew aboard an international space station, according to NASA.

The mission was under the command of Col. Brian Duffy and pilot Lt. Col. Pamela Melroy, who was the shuttle’s third female pilot. It was also the 100th space shuttle mission for NASA. The first shuttle flight was in April 1981 when the Columbia orbited the Earth 36 times.

The Discovery was the first shuttle launched after an explosion that killed all seven members aboard the Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986.

The spacecraft will be mounted on top of a Boeing 747 and flown back to Florida, a trip that will cost $700,000 to $1 million, NASA said. The next NASA mission will be Nov. 30 as the Endeavour blasts into space.

There have been 46 space shuttle landings at Edwards.

“There are only a few cool space things we can see,” said Michael Wheland of nearby California City. “We can either see it come up or come down.”

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After the Touchdown

When the space shuttle lands at Edwards Air Force Base, a ground crew is on hand to prepare it for its return flight to Florida. Discovery’s landing on Tuesday was the 46th shuttle landing at Edwards--the last time was in March 1996. After the shuttle is serviced, it will be ferried next week to Kennedy Space Center on top of a modified 747 jet. Here’s a look at what happens after the shuttle lands:

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1. Testing for danger: Several hundred launch operations team members are on hand to work on the shuttle. Ground team members wearing protective suits approach the spacecraft when it stops rolling. They test the atmosphere in the vicinity of the shuttle to ensure it is not explosive. A truck carrying a large fan is moved into the area to diffuse gas concentrations and prevent a possible explosion.

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2. Cooling down: Air-conditioning units are attached to the shuttle to cool the orbiter and dissipate heat generated by reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

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3. The crew’s exit: The flight crew exits onto transport vehicle which is raised to the shuttle hatch. The orbiter and ground support convoy move from the runway to the orbiter mate and demate facility. Located here are medical and debriefing personnel for the crew members, as well as scientists to receive materials and results of experiments performed in space.

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4. Powering down:After the flight crew has safely exited, the ground crew powers down the spacecraft. The ground support vehicles are detached and moved away, and the orbiter tractor tow vehicle prepares to tow the shuttle to the cage.

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5. Checking for damage: The shuttle is towed to the Dryden Flight Research Center’s Area A and put into a cage-like structure designed to securely suspend the spacecraft during inspection. Any remaining fuel is removed, and the shuttle’s protective skin of thermal tiles is examined. Any damaged tiles are repaired in preparation for the flight back to Florida. When the shuttle is ready, NASA begins to watch the weather.

Sources: NASA, Dryden Flight Research Center; Researched by Times staff.