
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 23, 1993                   TAG: 9309230204
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

DISCOVERY GLIDES HOME IN THE DARK

Discovery and its crew glided home Wednesday to the first shuttle landing in the Florida darkness after a mission that boosted NASA's confidence in fixing the Hubble Space Telescope.

All the tribulations leading to liftoff - two months of delays to be exact - paid off in the end, NASA launch director Bob Sieck said.

"That was a super ending to a super mission," Sieck said.

Commander Frank Culbertson Jr. landed Discovery at Kennedy Space Center just before 4 a.m. He and the four other astronauts were supposed to return Tuesday, but rain kept them in orbit a 10th day.

- Associated Press

by CNB