Rep. Bart Gordon: Welcome Home Discovery

(Washington, DC)  U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science Ranking Member Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) this morning applauded NASA’s team and flight crew on the completion of the first Return-to-Flight mission.  Space Shuttle Discovery landed at the Edwards Air Force Base this morning at 8:12 a.m. EDT.

“I congratulate Commander Collins and the crew of STS-114 on a job well done.  The crew of Discovery and their amazing support team on the ground had a challenging assignment and they performed well.  STS-114 was a mission designed to test the technologies and operational procedures developed in response to the recommendations of Columbia Accident Investigation Board.  While NASA clearly has additional work to do to address the foam shedding problem, it is important to recognize the many techniques that were successfully demonstrated on this first return-to-flight mission.”