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Atlantis returns to Florida
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - February 20, 2008 The shuttle and its seven astronauts landed at 9:07 a.m. at
NASA's spaceport at Kennedy Space Center, where the crew's families
and top space program managers gathered to welcome them home.
Commander Stephen Frick safely guided Atlantis down through a
sky dotted with thin, wispy clouds and onto the runway.
"It's been a great mission. We're extremely happy to be home,"
Frick told Mission Control.
NASA wanted Atlantis back as soon as possible to clear the way
for the Navy to shoot down a dying spy satellite on the verge of
smashing into Earth with a load of toxic fuel. The missile could be
launched as early as Wednesday night from a warship in the Pacific.
Atlantis circled Earth 202 times during its mission, which began
Feb. 7. Nine of those 13 days were spent at the international space
station, where the two crews installed the European science lab,
Columbus, that was ferried up by the shuttle.
A French astronaut, Leopold Eyharts, remained at the orbiting
outpost with an American and a Russian to get Columbus up and
running. He replaced NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, who returned home
aboard Atlantis after 120 days in space.
Tani's mission was marred by the death of his 90-year-old mother
in a traffic accident in December, halfway through his space
station stay. Even though the astronaut was able to listen in to
her funeral, he said it was difficult being so far away at such a
tragic time. He couldn't wait to be reunited with his wife, two
young daughters and other family members.
Also on hand to greet Tani was the minister who presided over
his mother's funeral, the Rev. Rob Hatfield of First Church of
Lombard in Illinois.
NASA officials said Tani was doing well and experiencing the
typical readjustment to gravity.
After two months of delay because of fuel gauge trouble,
Atlantis ended up with an unusually trouble-free flight. Heaters
for a set of small thrusters failed earlier this week, but posed no
concern for re-entry. And a radiator hose that was bent before the
flight retracted neatly into its box when the payload bay doors
were closed in the wee hours for landing.
After inspecting his ship on the runway, Frick noted that
Atlantis worked "beautifully and perfectly."
"We got everything done that we had hoped to get done," he
said.
NASA's next mission is just three weeks away. Endeavour is
scheduled to blast off with the first piece of Japan's massive
space station lab on March 11. The second piece of the Japanese
Kibo lab - Kibo means hope - was supposed to go up in April aboard
Discovery, but has been delayed until May because of shuttle fuel
tank work.
Atlantis, meanwhile, won't fly again until the end of August,
when it takes a team of repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for
one final tuneup.
"I can't think of a better way to start this year out than this
wonderful flight we just had," said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of
NASA's space operations.
