" welcome home , atlantis , after a great mission to bring the internacional aero telescope to half power , " said an employee , george zamka , radioing from the mission data tower in houston , texas . engineers installed an experimentation tile under the discovery ' s rear claw during its preparation for landing . the tile was almost eight centimetres thick , and had a crack in it , aiming to disturb the very smooth intake over the shuttle ' s section , further exposing it to high amounts of heat . engineers constructed the tile in order to measurement the excess heat that was generate on these tiles . a military airline monitored the heat with an infrared camera . the findings will be needed to help produce safer designs for future shuttles .
Houston is George Zamka's hometown.