Space Shuttle Atlantis returning today, 6/21

[Rico]

The crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis is due to return to Earth today.  Due to land at 1:55pm EDT.  More details below:

Landing day has arrived for space shuttle Atlantis and the STS-117 crew. Atlantis is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 1:55 p.m. EDT.

Forecasters and flight controllers will be monitoring the weather closely today. There is a chance of thunderstorms of the Florida spaceport.

If flight controllers elect to take the 1:55 p.m. opportunity, Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Lee Archambault will perform the deorbit burn on Orbit 202 at 12:50 p.m. The other opportunity available on Thursday is Orbit 203, which calls for the deorbit burn at 2:25 p.m. and a 3:30 p.m. touchdown at Kennedy.

The STS-117 crew members are returning home from a construction mission to the International Space Station. They installed the Starboard 3 and 4 truss segment and conducted four spacewalks to activate it. During the third spacewalk, the crew repaired an out of position thermal blanket on the left orbital maneuvering system pod.

Atlantis also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson. He replaced astronaut Suni Williams, who is the new record holder for a long-duration single spaceflight for a woman. She arrived at the station in December with STS-116.

STS-117 is the 118th shuttle mission and 21st mission to visit the space station. The next mission, STS-118, is slated to launch in August.

[Rico]

Landing delayed for at least a day....

The STS-117 crew is getting an extra day in space thanks to poor weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Space shuttle Atlantis has four landing opportunities available Friday, with the first at 2:16 p.m. EDT in Florida.

Thunderstorms in the vicinity of Kennedy forced flight controllers to wave off both opportunities today. Controllers and the Spaceflight Meteorology Group will closely monitor forecasts for Friday’s opportunities in Florida and at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

[Geekyfanboy]

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, California (AP) -- Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned to Earth safely Thursday, ending a two-week mission to deliver an addition to the international space station and bring home a crew member from the outpost.

Atlantis had to use its backup landing strip in California after rain and clouds over Florida ruled out Kennedy Space Center.

"We couldn't quite get comfortable with [Kennedy]," Mission Control told the Atlantis crew. "We are going to target Edwards."

The crew executed the landing on its first opportunity at Edwards at 3:49 p.m. ET.

Rain and clouds that scrubbed a planned Thursday landing in Florida continued Friday, and NASA waved off the first planned landing there, which would have been at 2:18 p.m. ET.

The landing site at Edwards had clear skies, and wind gusts there were not expected to pick up until late in the day.

"Our mind-set down here is we're going to land you somewhere safely today," Mission Control told the shuttle crew Friday morning.

Aboard Atlantis, the astronauts closed the shuttle's payload bay doors in preparation for landing. The doors are opened during flights so heat doesn't build up in the orbiter.

Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow said the crew would put on their orange spacesuits for landing.

"That sounds great, Houston," Sturckow said. "We're going to suit up then."

Among the crew returning to Earth was astronaut Sunita "Sunni" Williams, who spent 195 days on the space station, a women's endurance record.

The crew had three chances Friday to land at Edwards, the last at 6:59 p.m. ET. If the weather had spoiled all those opportunities, mission managers would have tried again Saturday, with another backup landing site in New Mexico in the lineup.

The preferred landing site is Kennedy, where it is easier and far cheaper to get Atlantis to its hangar to be prepared for its next mission in December.

Lands in California means it will cost $1.7 million and take up to 10 days to get it home to Florida aboard a jumbo jet.

Atlantis had enough power for its systems to orbit until Sunday, but managers didn't want to wait that long. The flight would have been extended to Sunday only if technical problems needed to be fixed.

During Atlantis' two chances to land Thursday, showers were within 34 miles of the landing strip at Kennedy Space Center, and clouds hung below an altitude of 8,000 feet, both violations of flight rules.

During the crew's 14-day mission to the international space station, the astronauts installed a new truss segment, unfurled a new pair of power-generating solar arrays and activated a rotating joint that allows the new solar arrays to track the sun.

Originally scheduled for 11 days, the mission was extended by two days to give astronauts time to repair a thermal blanket that had peeled away during the June 8 launch. Astronaut Danny Olivas stapled it back into place during a spacewalk. Another extra day in orbit was added after the weather in Florida prevented a landing Thursday.

The shuttle's visit to the space station was complicated by the crash of Russian computers that control orientation and oxygen production. (Watch how the cosmonauts fixed the computers )

Atlantis helped the station maintain its orientation for several days until the computers were revived. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov used a cable to bypass a circuit board.

The cosmonauts at the space station attempted to power the Russian computers Thursday without using the cable bypass, but it was unsuccessful.

[Rico]

Nice job Atlantis and crew!