August 21, 2007
The shuttle Endeavour and its crew land safely
The Endeavour makes a flawless landing at the Kennedy Space Center, after its 13-day mission. However, Barbara Morgan is not able to participate in the traditional crew photo a few hours after landing, still feeling the effects of a return to gravity.
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(NASA video)
Later, at a press conference, she would joke about her condition, saying she was doing "some good science" on the medical transport vehicle.
Ed Campion, the first press secretary for the Teacher-in-Space program, was one of the first to see Morgan. It was a bittersweet moment, since the last time he'd seen her at the Kennedy Space Center was when the Challenger exploded.
"If you're not feeling good, you don't want people to run up and give you big bear hugs and shaking you," said Campion. "And she just got off the bus and she looked at me, and she goes, "Can I have a hug?" And I went, "Oh, absolutely." And I said "A congratulatory hug, 21 years in the making."
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