Atlantis, STS-117 Crew Set to Return to Earth
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Atlantis, STS-117 Crew Set to Return to Earth
Deorbit to Kennedy on Orbit 202
Deorbit to Kennedy on Orbit 203
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Atlantis, STS-117 Crew Set to Return to Earth
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.
Deorbit to Kennedy on Orbit 202
Deorbit to Kennedy on Orbit 203
NASA TV
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html