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Space Shuttle Lands Safely at Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew landed safely at
Cape Canaveral Wednesday morning, wrapping up a 5 million-mile journey
highlighted by the successful delivery of a new space-station lab.
The shuttle and its seven astronauts touched down at 9:07 a.m. at NASA's
spaceport, where their families and top space program managers eagerly
awaited their arrival.
Before the final approach, Mission Control informed commander Stephen Frick
that the landing weather was close to ideal, with just thin clouds and a
slight tailwind.
"Great news," Frick replied.
Soon afterward, he and his co-pilot fired the braking rockets, causing
Atlantis to drop out of orbit and begin the fiery hourlong descent.
The re-entry path took Atlantis across the South Pacific, over El Salvador
and Honduras and then the western tip of Cuba, and up into Florida.
NASA wanted Atlantis back as soon as possible to clear the way for the Navy
to shoot down a dying spy satellite on the verge of smashing into Earth with
a load of toxic fuel.
The missile could be launched as early as Wednesday night, from a warship in
the Pacific.
But the shot can't be fired until Atlantis lands because it would have been
dangerous for the shuttle to descend through the debris.
Although the Defense Department has a short window of opportunity to shoot
down the satellite, NASA officials said they were under no pressure to hurry
up the touchdown.
NASA cleared Atlantis for landing after engineers finished evaluating the
latest laser images of the shuttle's wings and nose and concluded there were
no holes or cracks from micrometeorites or space junk.
The astronauts inspected the especially vulnerable areas Monday, after
undocking from the international space station.
Atlantis circled Earth 202 times during its mission, which began Feb. 7.
Nine of those 13 days were spent at the international space station, where
the two crews installed the European science lab, Columbus, that was ferried
up by the shuttle.
A French astronaut, Leopold Eyharts, remained at the orbiting outpost with
an American and a Russian to get Columbus up and running.
He replaced NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, who was returning home aboard
Atlantis after 120 days in space.
After two months of delay because of fuel gauge trouble, Atlantis ended up
with an unusually trouble-free flight.
Heaters for a set of small thrusters failed earlier this week, but posed no
concern for re-entry. And a radiator hose that was bent before the flight
retracted neatly into its box when the payload bay doors were closed in the
wee hours for landing.
NASA's next mission is just three weeks away. Endeavour is scheduled to
blast off with the first piece of Japan's massive space station lab on March
11.
Atlantis, meanwhile, won't fly again until the end of August, when it takes
a team of repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for one final tuneup.
Space Shuttle Lands Safely at Cape Canaveral
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew landed safely at
Cape Canaveral Wednesday morning, wrapping up a 5 million-mile journey
highlighted by the successful delivery of a new space-station lab.
The shuttle and its seven astronauts touched down at 9:07 a.m. at NASA's
spaceport, where their families and top space program managers eagerly
awaited their arrival.
Before the final approach, Mission Control informed commander Stephen Frick
that the landing weather was close to ideal, with just thin clouds and a
slight tailwind.
"Great news," Frick replied.
Soon afterward, he and his co-pilot fired the braking rockets, causing
Atlantis to drop out of orbit and begin the fiery hourlong descent.
The re-entry path took Atlantis across the South Pacific, over El Salvador
and Honduras and then the western tip of Cuba, and up into Florida.
NASA wanted Atlantis back as soon as possible to clear the way for the Navy
to shoot down a dying spy satellite on the verge of smashing into Earth with
a load of toxic fuel.
The missile could be launched as early as Wednesday night, from a warship in
the Pacific.
But the shot can't be fired until Atlantis lands because it would have been
dangerous for the shuttle to descend through the debris.
Although the Defense Department has a short window of opportunity to shoot
down the satellite, NASA officials said they were under no pressure to hurry
up the touchdown.
NASA cleared Atlantis for landing after engineers finished evaluating the
latest laser images of the shuttle's wings and nose and concluded there were
no holes or cracks from micrometeorites or space junk.
The astronauts inspected the especially vulnerable areas Monday, after
undocking from the international space station.
Atlantis circled Earth 202 times during its mission, which began Feb. 7.
Nine of those 13 days were spent at the international space station, where
the two crews installed the European science lab, Columbus, that was ferried
up by the shuttle.
A French astronaut, Leopold Eyharts, remained at the orbiting outpost with
an American and a Russian to get Columbus up and running.
He replaced NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, who was returning home aboard
Atlantis after 120 days in space.
After two months of delay because of fuel gauge trouble, Atlantis ended up
with an unusually trouble-free flight.
Heaters for a set of small thrusters failed earlier this week, but posed no
concern for re-entry. And a radiator hose that was bent before the flight
retracted neatly into its box when the payload bay doors were closed in the
wee hours for landing.
NASA's next mission is just three weeks away. Endeavour is scheduled to
blast off with the first piece of Japan's massive space station lab on March
11.
Atlantis, meanwhile, won't fly again until the end of August, when it takes
a team of repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for one final tuneup.
