Space shuttle Atlantis on last leg of last mission

[May 25, 2010]  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Atlantis' homeward-bound astronauts paid tribute Tuesday to their space shuttle, close to winding up its final journey after a quarter-century of flight.

Commander Kenneth Ham noted that Atlantis has spent nearly 300 days in orbit over 32 missions, and traveled 120 million miles. He and his crew took along a small U.S. flag that actually flew on Atlantis' first flight.

"Atlantis is just a fabulous ship," said Ham's co-pilot, Dominic "Tony" Antonelli. "If this ends up being space shuttle Atlantis' last flight, we've got an American flag here that we're honored to fly," he said, holding it up and explaining that it flew on Atlantis back in 1985.

This is the last flight on the books for Atlantis. Only two missions remain as NASA's shuttle program winds down, unless the Obama administration agrees to add one more trip for Atlantis.

Touchdown is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Mission Control warned the crew that rain could interfere, but noted: "We think we've got a pretty good fighting chance." Atlantis has enough supplies to remain in orbit until Saturday.

With just 26 hours officially remaining in their mission, the astronauts beamed down a video they recorded over the previous few days aboard Atlantis as well as the International Space Station.

"I hope that when she lands successfully -- which I'm relying on these guys up front to do -- that she'll go somewhere and get the respect she deserves as a ship of exploration," said astronaut Piers Sellers, nodding to the pilots on board. He's flown on Atlantis twice.

Astronaut Michael Good, another two-time Atlantis flier, pointed out that the shuttle has flown not only to the International Space Station, but Russia's old Mir station and the Hubble Space Telescope. He was part of the final Hubble repair team last May.

"She's well traveled and she's served many of us well, and we look forward to bringing her home safe and going to visit her someday on the ground," Good said. "So from the entire crew, from STS-132, thanks to Atlantis and all the folks who have worked on her over the years."

STS-132 is NASA's designation for this mission, the 132nd flight in the shuttle program.

The astronauts spent Tuesday morning getting Atlantis ready to come home after 12 days circling the Earth, and checking the critical flight systems. They're returning from the space station, where they delivered and installed a new Russian compartment and 12 fresh batteries.

Once back at Kennedy Space Center, Atlantis will be prepped for a potential rescue mission for the very last shuttle flight, to be conducted by Endeavour no earlier than November.

Assuming no emergencies arise, NASA would like to fly Atlantis anyway, in June 2011. Space agency officials said they need to know from the White House by June or July whether that's going to be possible. That's how much lead time would be needed to train a crew and flight control team, and prepare the payloads.

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Online:

NASA:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/
shuttle/main/index.html

[Associated Press; By MARCIA DUNN]

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