In the end, it would be almost three years before the shuttle flew once more. Late on the bright, almost windless, morning of September 29, 1988, Discovery cleared the tower at Cape Canaveral carrying a small veteran crew, equipped with a rudimentary new escape system, and riding on Thiokol’s redesigned solid rocket boosters. When the shuttle touched down safely at Edwards Air Force Base four days later, the astronauts were met by an audience of 380,000 people and a band playing the national anthem, as the CapCom in Mission Control heralded their triumphant return: “Welcome back, Discovery,”
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