Space shuttle Atlantis aims for morning touchdown

[May 26, 2010]  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis sailed past the 120 million-mile mark in space Wednesday and aimed for a morning touchdown to end its flying career.

To everyone's relief, the predicted rain seemed to be staying away.

"It's looking pretty favorable right now," Mission Control radioed commander Kenneth Ham before dawn.

Ham and his crew had some trouble turning on the backup cooling system that is needed for re-entry, but managed to work around the problem and close the payload bay doors on time. Landing was set for 8:48 a.m.

The lead flight directors for the space station construction mission -- and NASA's third-to-last shuttle journey -- arrived from Houston to welcome Atlantis and its six astronauts home.

Tens of thousands jammed Kennedy Space Center and surrounding roads to witness Atlantis' launch on May 14, but the landing was not expected to attract nearly as many people.

Shortly after midnight, Atlantis logged its 120-millionth mile in space, accumulated over 32 flights and 25 years. Only two shuttle missions remain, by NASA's two other spaceships. NASA is pushing for one more flight for Atlantis, which would need White House approval.

Atlantis and its all-man crew departed the International Space Station on Sunday, leaving it bigger and more powerful.

The astronauts accomplished everything they set out to do, and did it with humor. When Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert called to chat Tuesday, the one-liners zipped back and forth.

"We've got a new antenna on the space station, a new six-pack of batteries, a new module docked to the station, and generally have defeated the forces of evil, so we're very happy about how things have gone," said spaceman Garrett Reisman.

Ham and his crew turned serious, though, when reflecting on Atlantis' quarter-century of service and the impending end of the space shuttle program.

Once Atlantis is back in its hangar, it will be prepped for a potential rescue mission for what's currently slated to be the final shuttle flight, by Endeavour. Endeavour's trip is targeted for November, but NASA managers will reassess the date in another week or two.

The only other flight on the books is a supply run to the space station by Discovery in September. That date also is being evaluated.

Both of those missions have payload issues that are threatening to cause delays.

NASA would like to fly Atlantis again in June 2011, provided no rescue mission is needed for Endeavour's flight.

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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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