Space shuttle caps mission with Florida homecoming

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, Dec 23 (Reuters) Space shuttle Discovery flew through gray Florida skies and safely touched down on a Kennedy Space Center runway at twilight to cap a 13-day mission to continue construction of the International Space Station.

Shuttle commander Mark Polansky gently nosed Discovery through partly cloudy skies yesterday over the spaceport before settling the 112-ton ship onto a canal-lined runway at 5:32 pm EST 0402 hrs IST ''We're thrilled to have you in Florida,'' astronaut Ken Ham, at Mission Control in Houston, radioed to Polansky as the shuttle rolled to a stop after its 5.3 million-mile (8.5 million km) journey.

''Congratulations on what was probably the most complex (station) assembly mission to date,'' he said.

''You've got seven thrilled people right here,'' Polansky replied. ''Thank you and I think it's going to be a great holiday.'' Landing was nearly diverted to a rarely used strip in New Mexico, a prospect that would have cost millions of dollars and up to two months time to return the shuttle to Florida.

''Every now and then it doesn't hurt to be a little lucky,'' shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach said at a briefing after the landing.

NASA bypassed its first landing opportunity at the shuttle's home port due to concerns about rain showers. The backup landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base in California was ruled out due to high winds.

That left only the Northrup Strip at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico with favorable weather forecast for the shuttle's homecoming. NASA hastily dispatched two cargo planes with equipment and personnel in case Discovery had to land there.

NASA has used the site just once in 26 years of shuttle flights.

Columbia touched down at White Sands after its third spaceflight in March 1982.

With time running out to make a decision on where to land, flight director Norman Knight gradually became more comfortable with reports that Florida's weather was clearing and directed the crew to leave orbit. Polansky fired the shuttle's braking rockets and the ship began its hourlong glide back to Earth.

Double sonic booms rang out through central Florida as the shuttle dipped below the speed of sound for the first time since blasting off December 9 on what NASA expected to be a 12-day flight.

NASA had little choice but to land Discovery yesterday, having used up a day's worth of reserve supplies to stay at the International Space Station an extra day so the crew could fix a jammed solar wing panel.

The astronauts successfully completed their primary job of rewiring the station's power grid and installing a new piece of the outpost's metal exterior truss.

The shuttle also delivered a new crew member to the station, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who replaced Germany's Thomas Reiter.

Reiter returned with the Discovery crew after nearly six months in orbit.

NASA is under a deadline to finish building the space station by 2010 when the shuttle fleet is due to be retired. At least 13 more missions are needed to finish the assembly.

NASA's next flight is scheduled for March aboard shuttle Atlantis, which is expected to deliver a third set of power-producing solar wing panels to the station.

REUTERS PB BD0858