Cape Canaveral - The US space shuttle Columbia landed in Florida yesterday, ending a 16-day mission marred by the botched release of a $10 million (£6.8 million) solar observatory.
The 100-ton spaceship landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, at 12.20 p.m. (Irish time). Columbia's six astronauts returned to face an inquiry into how a routine satellite deployment went badly wrong.