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![]() Wednesday, July 28, 1999 Published at 04:05 GMT 05:05 UK ![]() ![]() Sci/Tech ![]() Shuttle down safely ![]() Mission control described the touch down as a "beautiful landing" ![]() The US Space Shuttle Columbia has touched down in a rare night-time landing at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Shortly after the shuttle rolled to a halt at 0320 GMT, Col Collins called out to mission control: "Houston, Columbia wheels stopped."
Among the tasks completed by the mission was the launch of the gigantic Chandra X-ray telescope. This was the largest payload every carried into space onboard a shuttle. Chandra will spend the next five years in orbit gathering information on some of the most violent explosions and energetic objects in the Universe - black holes, supernovae and quasars. But the mission was not without problems. The first launch was delayed by a false alarm, and a second attempt by a series of thunderstorms over Florida.
However, the orbit was high enough to carry out the launch of Chandra. The Chandra telescope has been waiting over a year for a shuttle flight into orbit and scientists will have to wait a little longer as the complex instrument is carefully activated. But the wait will be worthwhile if Chandra repeats the phenomenal success of an earlier shuttle passenger, the Hubble Space Telescope. ![]() |
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