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| Image above: NASA's modified 747
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft with Atlantis on top lift offs to begin its
ferry-flight back to Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: NASA/Carla
Thomas |
Early Sunday morning, Space Shuttle Atlantis began its journey back
to Kennedy Space Center 'piggy-backed' on top of a modified 747 jetliner
called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
The enroute plan includes refueling stops and a stop overnight. The anticipated
arrival at the Kennedy Space Center will be no earlier than Monday July
2 with a possibility of arriving Tuesday July 3 if weather conditions
are not favorable for a Monday landing.
Atlantis landed at Edwards concluding a successful assembly mission to
the International Space Station with Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot
Lee Archambault at the controls. Atlantis landed at 3:49 p.m. EDT on June
22.
The STS-117 mission astronauts returned to Johnson Space Center on Saturday,
June 23. Their return was marked by a traditional welcome home ceremony
at Ellington Field in Houston.
The STS-117 crew began its mission June 8 and arrived at the station
June 10. They quickly began work to install the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4)
truss structure to the outpost and retracted a set of arrays on the Port
6 (P6) truss. The (S3/S4) contains a new set of solar arrays that increases
station power-generation capabilities. The P6 will be relocated during
a future assembly mission.
Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, John "Danny" Olivas,
Jim Reilly and Steven Swanson conducted a total of four spacewalks to
activate the S3/S4 and to retract the P6 arrays. During the third spacewalk,
Olivas repaired an out of position thermal blanket on the left orbital
maneuvering system pod.
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| Suni Williams, KD5PLB - broke the
record for the longest spaceflight by a woman |
Landing also marked the end of a record-setting spaceflight by Mission
Specialist Suni Williams, KD5PLB. She broke the record
for the longest spaceflight by a woman and she also became the record-holder
for the most hours outside a spacecraft by a female, completing four spacewalks
during Expedition 14.
Williams' journey began in December with the launch of STS-116. She lived
on the space station for six months before switching places on the STS-117
crew with Clayton Anderson, KD5PLA, who is now a flight
engineer on the station. When Atlantis landed, she had accumulated 194
days, 18 hours and 58 minutes during her spaceflight.
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.
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