Discovery and its crew of seven glided safely back to Earth on Tuesday, ending a riveting, at times agonizing, 14-day test of space shuttle safety that was shadowed by the ghosts of Columbia.
Discovery swooped through the darkness of the Mojave Desert and landed on the Edwards runway at 5:11 a.m. PDT, well before sunrise. It marked the conclusion of the first shuttle re-entry since Columbia's tragic return.
The detour to California came after thunderstorms in Cape Canaveral, Fla., prevented the shuttle from returning to its home base.
"Congratulations on a truly spectacular test flight," Mission Control said once Discovery came to a stop. "Welcome home, friends."
"We're happy to be back and we congratulate the whole team for a job well done," Commander Eileen Collins replied.
The inherently dangerous ride down through the atmosphere  more anxiety-ridden than normal because of what happened to Columbia 2 1/2 years ago  appeared to go smoothly. No problems were immediately reported by Mission Control.
"I hope this shows people that we're coming back," NASA spaceflight chief Bill Readdy said from Cape Canaveral following touchdown. "We've got some more work to do. We know what we need to do and we'll do it."
