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Shuttle Atlantis Back from Mission, Lands Safely
After successfully completing its 11-day mission to deliver spare parts to the ISS (International Space Station), space shuttle Atlantis landed safely in Florida on Friday.
by Priyanka - November 28, 2009 - comments
Atlantis touched down the base at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in the morning at pre-scheduled time of 09:44 a.m. EST.
Atlantis Commander U.S. Marine Col. Charles O. Hobaugh radioed as he piloted the shuttle over Florida, “Couldn't have picked a clearer day."
Atlantis landing was not only smooth, it also took place at first attempt, bringing an unusually trouble-free mission that started on Nov. 16, 2009 to an end. The mission accomplished all its assigned chores such as re-supply, maintenance at ISS and other tasks at hand.
The shuttle brought back not just the six crew members who went on the mission but also the Space Station flight engineer Nicole Stott after three months.
J. Ferguson of navy radioed to the crew of Atlantis from mission control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, “That was a picture-perfect end to a top-fuel mission to the space station. Everybody, welcome back to Earth, especially you, Nicole.”
NASA’s space program for 2010
After this one, just five more shuttle missions are to go before NASA discards the space program in September 2010, to pave way for the next generation U.S. spacecrafts.
All the astronauts from countries such as Canada, Japan, and Europe, including American astronauts, will be flying on Russian vessels, paying $50 million per head to the space station after NASA retires the space shuttle program.
According to NASA, the next shuttle launch is scheduled for Feb. 4, 2010. It will blast off towards the space station, carrying with it a Tranquility node--a connecting module--and a cupola specifically designed to provide 360-degree view around the orbiter to carry out examination and to serve as a control for robotics.
NASA, at present, is focusing on building spaceships to replace shuttles to enable its astronauts to fly to the moon and other planets in the solar system. These will be ready till 2015.
Till then other countries participating in this project will take over the responsibility of flying the supplies like food and fuel etc. to the outpost. However, none of them is capable of carrying bulky spare parts to the station.
A little about Atlantis mission
The astronauts abroad the Atlantis delivered nearly 15 tons of spare parts and equipment to the ISS. These are meant to carry out maintenance to prevent any sort of failure in the ISS after the NASA retires the space shuttle program.
The astronauts also performed three space walks during their 11-day stay there to prepare the outpost for the shuttle arriving on February, 2010.