Fairford ready for spacecraft (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Fairford ready for spacecraft

RAF Fairford was put on high alert for the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Dozens of personnel were made ready in case the shuttle launch went wrong and had to make an aborted landing on this side of the Atlantic.

The base is one of several airfields around the globe made ready to accept the Space Shuttle in the event of an emergency.

NASA personnel occasionally visit the base to teach people about what needs to be done even down to the correct way to cut a spacesuit off an injured astronaut.

However the launch went without a hitch despite concerns about the possibility of broken heat tiles, which protect the spacecraft from the searing heat of re-entry into the atmosphere.

The space mission has now been extended by an extra day and the seven crew members are expected to return later this week.