Gliding into retirement after 32 missions covering 120 million miles, the shuttle Atlantis dropped out of orbit and returned to Earth on Wednesday, wrapping up a 25-year career with a near-flawless space station assembly mission.
Taking over manual control 50,000 feet above the Florida spaceport, Captain Kenneth T. Ham of the Navy, the commander, guided the 105-tonne space plane through a sweeping right overhead turn before a steep descent to Runway 33.
Just shy of the runway threshold, Ham pulled the shuttle's nose up, Commodore Dominic A. Antonelli of the Navy, the pilot, deployed the ship's landing gear and Atlantis swooped to a picture-perfect touchdown at 8.48 a.m.
“Houston, Atlantis, we have wheels stopped,” Captain Ham radioed a few moments later as the shuttle coasted to a stop on the runway centreline.
“I'm sure the station crew members hated to see you leave, but we're glad to have you back,” Colonel Charles O. Hobaugh of the Marines replied from mission control in Houston.
The astronauts, including Captain Ham; Cmdr. Antonelli; Michael T. Good, a flight engineer and retired Air Force Colonel; Garrett E. Reisman; Piers J. Sellers; and Captain Stephen G. Bowen of the Navy, doffed their pressure suits and joined NASA managers and engineers on the runway for a walk-around inspection before returning to the crew quarters.
“She looks great,” Cmdr. Antonelli said of the Atlantis. “From the condition we brought her back in, she is so ready to get stacked and back out to the launch pad. You can tell that's where she wants to be.”
During a busy week docked to the International Space Station, the astronauts installed a Russian research module, delivered several tonnes of supplies and carried out three spacewalks to install a backup Ku-band antenna, an equipment mounting platform and six new solar array batteries.
It was the final planned mission for Atlantis as NASA phases out the shuttle programme after three decades and more than 130 flights. Only two more missions are planned, a flight by Discovery in September or October and a final flight by Endeavour late this year or early next.
But Atlantis will be processed for launch on a possible rescue mission in case of any major problems that might prevent Endeavour's crew from making a safe re-entry. And while there are no official plans to actually launch Atlantis, NASA managers are seeking permission from the Obama administration to send the shuttle back up on one final mission to resupply the space station. A decision is expected later this summer.
Atlantis blasted off on its first flight, a classified military mission, on October 3, 1985. Among the highlights of its quarter-century of service were the launchings of robotic probes to Venus and Jupiter, the deployment of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite, five military missions and seven flights to the Russian Mir space station.
Atlantis also flew 11 missions to the International Space Station and visited the Hubble Space Telescope last year for a final overhaul. — New York Times News Service
