Jim Halsell stands beside space shuttle Atlantis after a perfect landing.
Pilots pride themselves on landing their airplanes gently, and right in the middle of the runway.
Shuttle commander Jim Halsell is no different. When he brought the space shuttle Atlantis home to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Monday morning after a mission to the International Space Station, Halsell made sure his landing was picture perfect. Even though he had to land Atlantis in the dark, Halsell was able to stop the big shuttle with its nosewheel right on the runway's center stripe. That's something all shuttle commanders strive to do as part of a landing tradition. Naturally, after landing, Halsell was all smiles when he saw the nosewheel and posed for a picture next to his accomplishment.