On the Ground Again

[krpalmer]

I was there for the launch, but when space shuttle Atlantis was landing in Florida I was stuck at work. It's more important, of course, that it did make a safe landing after adding one more small piece to the space station and working on the pieces already there... although the phrase "final scheduled mission" has been sticking in my mind. I also keep thinking about how Atlantis is being sent to the Orbiter Processing Facility (which I was driven past in a tour bus) to be readied just in case a rescue mission is needed, and about the suggestions that the fuel tank held for that rescue mission might as well be used anyway for a last flight not scheduled yet. I'm not quite sure whether that last hurrah will be absolutely necessary in the long run, though.