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| Image above: A camera on Atlantis' robotic arm captured
this image of the shuttle's payload bay and crew cabin. Photo Credit:
NASA TV |
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Atlantis set to return home Thursday
The six STS-115 astronauts in space shuttle Atlantis are scheduled to
end their orbital construction mission today with a landing at 6:21 a.m.
EDT Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The crew will prepare for re-entry and landing this morning. The payload
bay doors are scheduled to close at 2:44 a.m.
Commander Brent Jett and Pilot Chris Ferguson are slated to fire the
shuttle’s engines at 5:14 a.m. to begin the descent to Florida.
If flight controllers decide to delay landing, a second opportunity is
available today. It would begin with a de-orbit burn at 6:51 a.m. and
end with a 7:57 a.m. landing.
Forecasts call for acceptable landing weather in Florida.
The STS-115 crew members have been in orbit since Sept. 9. They resumed
the construction of the International Space Station with the delivery
of the P3/P4 integrated truss segment. They
conducted successful spacewalks primarily devoted to preparing the truss
and its solar arrays for operation.
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