October 19, 2011
After Space Shuttle Discovery's landing on runway 15 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), NASA VIPs take a close look at the orbiter. From the left are KSC Director Bill Parsons and Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Space Operations. At right are the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Director of Program Management and Integration Yuichi Yamaura and Vice President Kaoru Mamiya. Discovery's landing ended the STS-124 mission, a 14-day flight to the International Space Station. The main landing gear touched down at 11:15:19 a.m. (EDT) on June 14, 2008. The nose landing gear touched down at 11:15:30 a.m. and wheel stop was at 11:16:19 a.m. During the mission, Discovery's crew installed the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's large Kibo laboratory and its remote manipulator system leaving a larger space station and one with increased science capabilities.
Topics: Human spaceflight, Spaceflight, Space exploration, Environment, Disaster Accident, William H. Gerstenmaier, Japanese Experiment Module, STS-124, Canadarm, Edwards Air Force Base, STS-118, Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle program, NASA