Shuttle Astronauts Finish Work on International Space Station

by Kent Klein
(Washington)

Astronauts from the U.S. space shuttle Discovery have finished their final jobs on the International Space Station, and held a news conference from space. VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington.

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Later, during the news conference, mission specialist Ron Garan talked about the view from space during his three spacewalks.

"When I looked out greater than 180 degrees, all I saw was the curvature of the Earth. And so, what it appeared to me, as opposed to just looking down and seeing the Earth, I was looking and seeing a planet, just hanging out there in the blackness of the space, and it was just absolutely incredible, just to see the views and the sunrises and the sunsets," he said.

Spacewalkers extra cautious in second day outside craft

by MARK CARREAU
(Houston Chronicle)

Two astronauts spent nearly seven hours outside the International Space Station on Thursday with all the enthusiasm but little of the drama that marked another spacewalk earlier this week.

That was on Tuesday, when a tool bag floated away from astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper as she and astronaut Steve Bowen prepared to clean a damaged mechanism that rotates solar panels jutting from the stations' right side.

On Thursday, Stefanyshyn-Piper and astronaut Shane Kimbrough checked and rechecked the clips and tethers that restrained a second tool bag and the other equipment they carried to the work site.

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Space Shuttle Smooth Landing

-- Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts, including Chicago-area surgeon Robert Satcher Jr., returned to Earth with a smooth touchdown Friday to end an "amazing" flight that resupplied the International Space Station.

Within a few hours of landing, the astronauts feasted on turkey and trimmings with their families.

The new father on the crew, Randolph Bresnik, bolted out of NASA's spaceport when the meal was over. He flew home to Houston a day ahead of his crew mates so he could see his newborn daughter and wife, who gave birth Nov. 21.

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