News From Space!

Atlantis has landed! NASA reports:

Atlantis, STS-115 Crew Return to Earth
Space Shuttle Atlantis glided to a landing this morning at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., concluding a successful mission to resume construction of the International Space Station. Atlantis and the six-member STS-115 crew spent a busy 12 days in space.

Touchdown occurred at 6:21 a.m. EDT at the Shuttle Landing Facility. It was the 21st night landing for a space shuttle and the 15th night landing at the Florida spaceport.

Atlantis launched Sept. 9 and arrived at the station on the 11th. The crew delivered the P3/P4 integrated truss segment to the station and conducted three successful spacewalks primarily devoted to preparing the truss and its solar arrays for operation. The 17.5-ton truss will provide power and data services for the station. The solar arrays, which were unfurled on Sept. 14, span 240 feet and will double the station’s power generation capability once they become operational.

STS-115 was the 116th shuttle flight and the 19th mission to visit the space station. Atlantis has now flown 27 times and made six trips to the station.

The next shuttle scheduled to fly is Discovery on mission STS-116, which will launch no earlier than December. STS-116 will continue station assembly.

DEORBIT BURN - Atlantis is heading home! NASA reports:

Atlantis Begins Descent to Florida
STS-115 Commander Brent Jett and Pilot Chris Ferguson fired Space Shuttle Atlantis’ engines at 5:14 a.m. EDT, beginning the descent to Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Atlantis and its six astronauts are on track to touch down at the Shuttle Landing Facility at 6:21 a.m.

Landing will bring to a close STS-115’s successful mission to resume construction of the International Space Station. Atlantis launched Sept. 9 and arrived at the station on the 11th. The crew delivered the P3/P4 integrated truss segment and conducted three successful spacewalks primarily devoted to preparing the truss and its solar arrays for operation.

Ground Tracks here. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.

LANDING DAY! Flight Day 13 will see Atlantis and her six-person crew end mission STS-115 at Kennedy Space Center, after being cleared for landing yesterday evening. NASA reports:

Atlantis Set to Return Home Today
The six STS-115 astronauts are scheduled to end their orbital construction mission today with a landing at 6:21 a.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

The crew will prepare for re-entry and landing this morning. The payload bay doors are scheduled to close at 2:44 a.m.

Commander Brent Jett and Pilot Chris Ferguson are slated to fire the shuttle’s engines at 5:14 a.m. to begin the descent to Florida. If flight controllers decide to delay landing, a second opportunity is available today. It would begin with a de-orbit burn at 6:51 a.m. and end with a 7:57 a.m. landing.

Forecasts call for acceptable landing weather in Florida.

The STS-115 crew members have been in orbit since Sept. 9. They resumed the construction of the International Space Station with the delivery of the P3/P4 integrated truss segment. They conducted successful spacewalks primarily devoted to preparing the truss and its solar arrays for operation.

For the latest information on space station activities, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

Atlantis Set to Land on Thursday
Atlantis will glide in for landing, guided by Commander Brent Jett and Pilot Chris Ferguson, as the ship makes its steep descent from space into the pre-dawn darkness. Pulled back to Earth by gravity alone, Atlantis’ approach to the coastal Florida runway is at a prescribed steep, nose-down dive. The spacecraft flares to a shallow nose-up, tail-down position for landing — similar to a commercial jet aircraft — about a mile before reaching the Shuttle Landing Facility’s runway.The orbiter’s main landing gear touches down at a speed of about 215 mph, followed seconds later by nose gear touchdown. As the drag chute deploys, the orbiter coasts to a stop after rolling over a mile down the runway.

The orbiter landing convoy is then sent to “safe” the vehicle before the six crew member take their first steps back on Earth as they exit Atlantis through the Crew Hatch Access Vehicle. After receiving a quick check by doctors, the entire crew can do a walk-around visual inspection of the vehicle.

The astronauts are awake and preparing for landing. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.