Atlantis crew welcomed at Ellington

NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams received a rousing welcome to Houston on Saturday, 24 hours after returning aboard the shuttle Atlantis from a record-setting mission to the international space station.

Several hundred well-wishers, many of them family, friends and co-workers from NASA's Johnson Space Center, gathered at Ellington Field to greet Williams and the six Atlantis astronauts.

"I'm not sure what I should say. There are so many to thank," said Williams, who logged 195 days in space, a record for women.

A little wobbly after months of weightlessness, Williams was interrupted several times by applause as she addressed the gathering in a voice that broke with emotion.

"I'm a girl, so I'm allowed to do this," she said with a grin and a tear. She finally found inspiration in the words of Tony Dungy, who became the first black coach to win the Super Bowl as the leader of the Indianapolis Colts.

"He said something like, 'It's just the time and the place. There were many before me and many after me who can do this. It's just the time and place.' "

Atlantis touched down at Edwards Air Force Base., Calif., on Friday afternoon, after stormy weather in Florida prevented a return to the Kennedy Space Center.

In a two-week mission to the space station, the Atlantis astronauts delivered and installed a 35,000-pound solar power module.

They also dropped off NASA astronaut Clay Anderson for a five-month stay, exchanging him for Williams.

"We are so happy to be back and have had a successful mission," said Frederick "Rick" Sturckow, the shuttle's commander.

"It feels great to have all of that behind us."

He and crewmates Lee Archambault, Steven Swanson, Patrick Forrester, James Reilly and Danny Olivas overcame damage to heat-shielding on the shuttle's tail section as well as the crash of Russian computers aboard the space station responsible for steering and life support.

The setbacks added two days to their flight and increased the number of spacewalks.

"This was an incredibly complicated mission," said Michael Coats, the Johnson Space Center director. "This crew handled everything thrown at them and more and made it look easy."

Williams was joined at Ellington by her husband, Michael, her mother and sister, and Gorby, her Jack Russell Terrier.

With her return to Earth, Williams began a 45-day physical rehabilitation program to regain strength in her bones and muscles.
Source :http://www.chron.com