Atlantis Lands In Florida
Posted on: Friday, 27 November 2009, 08:55 CST | Related Video
After an 11 day mission to the International Space Station, space shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts finally wrapped up their 4,490,138 mile flight Friday morning as they were welcomed back to Earth.
Announcing its arrival with subsonic booms, it appeared through a perfectly clear sky at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:44 a.m. EST. Mission Control said they could not have picked a clearer day to land, calling it a “picture perfect end.”
Pilot Hobaugh and his crew spent a week stockpiling the space station, delivering bulky spare parts and performing three spacewalks to install equipment and carry out maintenance.
The shuttle’s return marked NASA's fifth and final flight of the year and the 129th mission in shuttle program history. There are now only five shuttle missions left to finish the $100 billion orbital outpost backed by 16 nations, which has been a work in progress 220 miles above Earth for the past 11 years, reported Reuters.
Due to safety concerns and high operating costs, the shuttles will be retired and replaced with capsule-type spaceships. The new ships will allow NASA to send astronauts to the moon and elsewhere in the solar system, but they will not be ready until at least 2015.
Meanwhile, NASA will be dependent upon Russian, European and Japanese cargo ships to fly food, fuel and supplies to the outpost.
Mission Control gave astronaut Nicole Stott a particularly warm welcome, saying “Everybody, welcome back to Earth, especially you, Nicole.” She joined the six Atlantis astronauts for the journey back to Earth after a three month outpost. She said she is looking forward to seeing her husband and 7-year-old son and eating some pizza.
It was also an especially sweet homecoming for fellow crew member Randolph Bresnik, who will be able to hold his newborn daughter for the first time.
Now the Russian Soyuz capsule will be the space station's mode of transportation, which will cost the United States about $50 million a seat.
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