Discovery lands safely in California

DISCOVERY and its crew of seven glided safely back to Earth yesterday, ending a riveting, at times agonising, 14-day test of space shuttle safety that was shadowed by the ghosts of Columbia.

Discovery swooped through the darkness and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert at 5.11am local time (1.11pm Irish time), concluding the first shuttle re-entry since Columbia's tragic return.

The landing was moved to California because of thunderstorms at the shuttle's home base of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

"Congratulations on a truly spectacular test flight," Mission Control said once Discovery came to a stop. "Welcome home, friends."

"We're happy to be back and we congratulate the whole team for a job well done," Commander Eileen Collins replied.

The inherently dangerous ride down through the atmosphere - more anxiety-ridden than normal because of what happened to Columbia two and a half years ago - appeared to go smoothly.

"I was pretty anxious all day," flight director LeRoy Cain said at a post-landing news conference.

Two hours after touchdown, the astronauts walked around the shuttle to inspect for damages.

"It looks fantastic," Ms Collins said of the shuttle's condition.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin said he did not know when a space shuttle will fly again, but added that it won't happen until the problem is solved with the piece of foam insulation that broke off during launch.

Held up a day by bad weather in Florida, the shuttle soared across the Pacific and over southern California, passing just north of Los Angeles on its way to Edwards.

NASA adjusted the flight path in order to skirt Los Angeles because of new public safety considerations in the wake of the Columbia disaster, which rained debris onto Texas and Louisiana.

Unlike previous landings at Edwards, where thousands were on hand, the public was not allowed to observe Discovery's landing because of tightened base security since the September 11 attacks.

Discovery's journey, which began with a lift-off on July 26, spanned 219 orbits of Earth and 5.8 million miles.

The switch to California was a big disappointment for the astronauts' families, who had been waiting to greet their loved ones in Cape Canaveral. Their reunion was put on hold until today, when they all plan to meet in Houston.

NASA called it a test flight and it was - in a way no one anticipated. The potentially deadly one-pound chunk of foam insulation came off the redesigned fuel tank during lift-off, missing Discovery but demonstrating that the space agency had not resolved the very problem that doomed Columbia.

The problem prompted NASA to ground future shuttle flights for now.

Two pieces of filler material protruding between tiles on Discovery's belly were removed by a spacewalking astronaut last week, for fear they could lead to a repeat of the Columbia tragedy. The fabric strips slipped out of the narrow gaps between thermal tiles for yet-unknown reasons.