Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns Home

Digitus1337 writes to mention the news that Space Shuttle Atlantis has returned to Earth after a successful twelve-day mission. Everything involving the mission went smoothly, resulting in high praise from NASA officials. The only drama came from 'mysterious' debris floating alongside the shuttle; this turned out to likely be trash from the cargo bay accidentally released into space. From the article: "The unplanned drama threatened to overshadow what had been a nearly flawless mission filled with strenuous spacewalks and rigorous robotics work that placed the space station back on a path to completion after its long hiatus. The crew of five men and one woman were the longest-trained in NASA history, because they were originally supposed to fly to the space station in 2003. But the Columbia accident kept them grounded."

Trash from the shuttle?

[Intron]

Among the debris: 6 McDonalds fries containers, a comb with gum stuck on it, a toll receipt for the GW bridge dated 1995, that missing glove from the EVA 10 years ago, an empty chapstick, two Miller Lite beer cans, and directions to the party that you don't want to remember now.

New NASA Rule: No burritos in the hanger

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

New NASA Rule: No burritos in the hanger - period. For Christ's sake, if you make a Taco Bell run, it's not like people aren't going to be able to tell from the smell, so quit throwing your wrappers in the cargo bay.

Re:Take the quotes off...

[R3d M3rcury]

And all the other UFOs were, of course, flocks of geese and meteorological balloons and whatnot.

I thought it was swamp gas from a weather balloon trapped in a thermal pocket which reflected the light from Venus. Really. This guy in a black suit [imdb.com] told me...