Shuttle crew beams down to Washington

[BlueJessamine]

Source: MSNBC

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With storms threatening to delay their return to Earth, the Atlantis astronauts took a break from landing preparations Thursday to update a Senate panel on their triumphant Hubble Space Telescope repairs.

The astronauts checked their ship’s flight systems and monitored the weather at NASA’s spaceport, which was pounded by fierce thunderstorms. More bad weather was expected Friday when Atlantis was due to fly back home.

The rain did not dampen NASA’s jubilation over the astronauts’ impressive Hubble repairs, which garnered kudos from the president and members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee who invited the crew to testify at a hearing from space. Such in-orbit testimony was a first for the Senate, although a space station crew member gave House testimony in 2005.

“When we talk about the Hubble and giving it essentially a new life and a new way of going and seeing the universe, you’ve touched our hearts and you’ve also made history,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the science appropriations subcommittee.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30865298/

[Wwagsthedog]

1. Did Scottie beam them down? nt