MISSION CONTROL CENTER
                                    STS-63 Status Report #18


Saturday, February 11, 1995, 7 AM CST

The Shuttle Discovery swooped to a dawn landing at the Kennedy Space Center this  
morning on time to complete an historic eight-day mission highlighted by the first  
rendezvous by a Shuttle with the Mir Space Station.

Commander Jim Wetherbee and Pilot Eileen Collins guided Discovery to a textbook  
touchdown on KSC's Runway 15 at 5:51 AM CST to complete a 2,992, 806 million mile  
mission spanning 129 complete orbits of the Earth, the 20th flight for Discovery.

With nearly perfect weather at KSC awaiting him and his crewmates, Wetherbee fired  
Discovery's orbital maneuvering system engines to enable Discovery to drop out of its  
orbit for an hour-long descent through the Earth's atmosphere. Discovery cut a blazing  
path through the pre-dawn skies over the heartland of America as it raced toward its  
Florida landing site.

Live television pictures of the landing were transmitted to the Russian Mission Control  
Center in Kaliningrad, Russia, where flight controllers beamed them up to the three  
cosmonauts travelling aboard the Mir Space Station.

Less than an hour after completing their flight, Discovery's astronauts left their vehicle for  
post-landing medical exams and reunions with their families.

The astronauts are scheduled to return to Houston's Ellington Field for a welcoming  
ceremony at mid-afternoon.