KSC-06pd2883

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy welcomes STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky back to Earth as United Space Alliance President and CEO Mike McCulley talks to Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham in the background. The informal gathering followed the landing of Space Shuttle Discovery on Runway 15 at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility at 5:32 p.m. EST. During the STS-116 mission, three spacewalks attached the P5 integrated truss structure to the station, and completed the rewiring of the orbiting laboratory's power system. A fourth spacewalk retracted a stubborn solar array. Main gear touchdown was at 5:32 p.m. EST. Nose gear touchdown was at 5:32:12 p.m. and wheel stop was at 5:32:52 p.m. At touchdown -- nominally about 2,500 ft. beyond the runway threshold -- the orbiter is traveling at a speed ranging from 213 to 226 mph. Discovery traveled 5,330,000 miles, landing on orbit 204. Mission elapsed time was 12 days, 20 hours, 44 minutes and 16 seconds. This is the 64th landing at KSC. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett