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- On Sunday, March 31, 1996, 8:00 a.m. CST, STS-76 MCC Status Report # 18 reports:
- Space Shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth early today with a 7:29 a.m. CST landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Weather at Kennedy Space Center in Florida was uncertain enough to cause the flight control team to pass up the first and second landing opportunities at KSC today, selecting Edwards with its excellent, more stable weather as the landing site.
- Atlantis descent from Earth orbit occurred on orbit 144 with an engine firing at 6:25 a.m. CST. The main gear touched down at a mission elapsed time of 9 days, five hours, 15 minutes and 53 seconds or 7: 28 and 57 seconds central time this morning. The spacecraft covered approximately 3.8 million miles since its launch Feb. 22.
- An early-mission leak in one of three hydraulic systems caused no difficulty on entry.
- Astronauts Kevin Chilton, Rick Searfoss, Linda Godwin, Ron Sega and Rich Clifford are expected to return to Houston at approximately 3:30 p.m. A welcoming ceremony at Ellington Field's Hangar 990 is open to the public. A more precise estimate of crew arrival time will be made later in the day.
Return to STS-76 Mission Summary - On Sunday, March 31, 1996, 8:00 a.m. CST, STS-76 MCC Status Report # 18 reports: