GEORGE DILLER: And here come our astronauts.
PAM MELROY: Great, thank you. Just checking. It's great to be out here on this gorgeous day.
It's a little breezy. It's great to be back in Florida, especially, the home of Discovery.
We could not have done this mission without Discovery being as clean and beautiful as it was.
Discovery worked perfectly and I just want to say a big thank you to everybody at the
Kennedy Space Center for everything that you do,because it takes the entire team to pull
it together to launch a shuttle as clean as this. And that goes for the whole agency.
I think the whole agency had to pull together for this particular mission.
We saw a lot of very unusual things happen.
We did a pretty amazing EVA and that was very exciting.
It was a thrilling day for both the Space Shuttle and the Space Station Programs,
vindicating both programs and their purpose and their flexibility in space.
I just want to say thank you. We are thrilled to be back home.
Sorry that Clay and Paolo couldn't be out here. They're doing great,
they're just doing some extra medical tasks, so they couldn't join us right now.
But I know they feel the same way, particularly Clay can't wait to see his
wife soon. It's their 15th wedding anniversary, so if you see Clay,
be sure to say happy anniversary. And thank you to everybody for a
beautiful vehicle and a beautiful mission.
DILLER: Astronauts are now boarding the astronaut transfer van, the Astrovan.
Clay Anderson and Paolo Nespoli will be going back on the crew transport
vehicle while the others go back on the Astrovan leaving now.