Shuttle Discovery appears to have suffered very little damage on its latest mission, though a detailed analysis is yet to be completed, a NASA spokeswoman said on Wednesday according to Reuters. "It's one of the cleanest vehicles they've ever seen," said Leslie Williams, a spokeswoman at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Discovery landed at Edwards on Tuesday, capping a 14-day mission that marked NASA's return to human space flight. The shuttle program had been grounded for 2-1/2 years after the shuttle Columbia broke up when re-entering the Earth's atmosphere in 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board. NASA again suspended shuttle missions after Discovery's fuel tank shed a piece of insulation foam during ascent, the same problem that doomed Columbia by damaging its wing. NASA diverted Discovery to California after skipping four chances to land at its home port, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, because of menacing thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday. Because of the change in the landing site, about 170 NASA experts and contractors are now en route to Edwards to fully evaluate the shuttle's condition and prepare it to be sent back to Kennedy, Williams said. It will be between seven and 10 days before Discovery is flown back to Florida atop a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.
