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