This time it was not the silvery pencil of an Atlas booster carrying the 77-year-old Senator into space but the great technological temple of a space shuttle.

CNN: Victory Lap

His wife had watched the launch of his mission but missed the landing, so it was great for her to see the shuttle in the air, he added.

CNN: Space shuttle Endeavour's final touchdown

There are things that happened on this mission that the press really latched on to: the gap filler sticking out, the fact that we had great video of the belly of the shuttle and saw the little pieces flying off.

NPR: Former Astronaut on NASA Risk Assessment

Dr. Williams blasted into space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, and again on Shuttle Endeavour where he walked out into the great beyond.

ENGADGET: UrtheCast to stream live HD footage of Earth from ISS, like Stickam for space

Mr. SHANNON: I told the team, before we left the scrub turnaround meeting, what a great gift NASA could give to the nation to return the shuttle to operation on Independence Day.

NPR: NASA Sets New Discovery Launch Date for July 4

The weather there has been looking great all week, and there doesn't really seem to be any problem with bringing the shuttle back there.

NPR: Shuttle Landing Delayed Due to Poor Weather

"We were really happy to take part in delivering Expedition Three to orbit and they're having a great mission right now up there on the space station, " Horowitz told reporters after inspecting Discovery with fellow shuttle crewmembers Rick Sturckow, Dan Barry and Pat Forrester.

CNN: Discovery brings home Alpha crew