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December 3, 2009

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Editorial: ‘Truly spectacular’

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 | 8:58 a.m.

Between July 26 and early Tuesday morning, when they touched down at Edwards Air Force Base, the crew of the Discovery orbited Earth 219 times, replenished and repaired the international space station, added to the joy of the station's two occupants by removing 5,000 pounds of trash and worked together on a unique space walk to repair their craft -- demonstrating new flying techniques in the process.

The first words from Mission Control upon their touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base early Tuesday were, "Congratulations on a truly spectacular test flight. Welcome home, friends."

Our sentiments exactly. Although flights are now grounded until NASA can learn why hard insulating foam from the shuttle's fuel tank is dangerously breaking away during liftoff, Discovery's success has reinvigorated the nation's space program. As were the crew of the Columbia, who perished two years ago on their return flight, the crew of the Discovery are heroic figures. As are all of the people at NASA who made the Discovery's success possible.

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