Space Shuttle Discovery Lands at Edwards,Air Force Base

On Thursday, the weather was too rough for a landing in Florida, but things were worse on Friday, Flight director Richard Jones opted for California, and scaring LA residents with a sonic boom.

Seriously, though, considering the date, and the reaction to a Coast Guard training exercise on the Potomac River, the sonic book might have scared a few people.

At any rate, NASA naturally prefers Florida landings. The cross-country trip back involves involves transporting the shuttle atop a modified jumbo jet and costs $1.8 million, besides the one week timespan.

Discovery and its crew dropped off supplies and equipment. The equipment included a $5 million treadmill named after Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. That was his consolation prize after winning an online vote for naming rights to a new space station room. However, NASA reserved the right to name it themselves, and they chose Tranquility for the yet-to-be-launched room.

The treadmill will be assembled later this month, and the space station’s newest resident, Nicole Stott, who rode up on Discovery, is expected to break it in as the first runner.