Shuttle Atlantis Streaks Back To Earth

Crew Wraps Up 5.3 Million-Mile Journey

(CBS/AP)  Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of seven have landed at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

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.

"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.

Nonetheless it was an uneventful entry and touchdown for the crew, including NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, who was returning home aboard Atlantis after 120 days in space about the International Space Station.

The landing weather was close to ideal, with just thin clouds and a slight tailwind. "Great news," Frick said.

The re-entry path took Atlantis across the South Pacific, over El Salvador and Honduras and then the western tip of Cuba, and up into Florida.

Atlantis circled Earth 202 times during its mission, which began Feb. 7. Nine of those 13 days were spent at the 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.

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.

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.

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.

For more information, visit the STS-122 mission page on the NASA Web site: www.nasa.gov

[oldpilot954]

Quit whining about health insurance and get a job. The government owes me nothing except what I work for. On the other hand, the technology the we use every day could not have been developed without government coordination and financing. I''m old enough to recognize at least some of the technology spin-offs from the space program. I agree that health care is an issue but the truth is that, compared to national healthcare costs, the space program looks like a bargain.

[fstop100]

Tax Dollars being wasted...YAWN...what else is new!
But we have great health insurance for everyone?!
What a country, proud to be American

[raised4952]

i truely do not know why tax payers support sending billions of dollars into space when so many tax payers can not afford health insurance.

[denn034]

Welcome back safe and sound, Atlantis!

[inventagod]

So, now the Pentagoons cannot shoot at that satellite because of bad weather? What a joke our missile defense has proven to be...
The military will protect you. Unless it''s raining, or cloudy, or windy...

[nordeck52]

Very good... very good. Great job on a splendid mission.

[inventagod]

With DlCK CHENEY loading the shotgun for NORAD, the Atlantis crew wanted to be on the ground...