KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - Dropping through partly cloudy skies, space shuttle Atlantis glided back to Earth this morning to complete an historic 13-day mission to deliver Europe's Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station. Atlantis also dropped off a French astronaut who became the newest member of the Expedition 16 crew.
(Image Right: Atlantis touches down on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center to complete STS-122. Credit: NASA) PHOTO GALLERY: STS-122 ATLANTIS VIDEO: STS-122 POSTLANDING PRSS CONFERENCE VIDEO: STS-122 ATLANTIS CREW POSTLANING PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO: ISS EXPEDITION 16 ASTRONAUT DAN TANI REFLECTS ON HIS MISSION VIDEO: THE SHUTTLE ASTRONAUTS WALK AROUND ATLANTIS AND MAKE A STATMENT AFTER LANDING VIDEO: FLIGHT CONTROL ENTRY TEAM LANDING REPLAY VIDEO: OUR EXCLUSIVE VIDEO OF ATLANTIS BEING TOWED BACK TO THE ORBITER PROCESSING FACILITY VIDEO: STS-122 LANDING REPLAYS VIDEO: OUR EXCLUSIVE VIDEO OF LANDING VIDEO: ATLANTIS LANDS TO CONLUDE STS-122 VIDEO: DEORBIT THROUGH POSTLANDING - EXTENDED VIDEO OF LANDING VIDEO: STS-122 MISSION HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO The STS-122 mission landed on the first opportunity at 9:07 a.m. EST. A minute later, the orbiter rolled to a stop on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility to complete the first shuttle mission of the year. "Houston, Atlantis, wheels stopped," shuttle commander Steve Frick radioed to mission control in Houston. "Copy, wheels stopped," astronaut Jim Dutton, serving as the entry CAPCOM, replied. "Welcome home, Atlantis, welcome home, Dan, and congrats on delivering Columbus to its New World." Steve Frick commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Alan Poindexter, Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love and European Space Agency astronauts Hans Schlegel from Germany and Leopold Eyharts from France. Eyharts remained aboard the space station, replacing Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Dan Tani, who returned to Earth on Atlantis after nearly four months on the station. Eyharts will return on shuttle Endeavour's STS-123 mission, currently targeted for launch on March 11, 2008. The mission included three spacewalks to outfit Columbus with power, data and cooling cables, installation of two science experiments on the lab's exterior, replacement of an expended nitrogen tank on the space station's cooling system, and retrieval of a failed space station control moment gyroscope -- a device that helps control the orientation of the station -- for its return to Earth. Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier described STS-122 as one of the program's most successful space station construction missions. "These missions are extremely challenging, and a great deal of preparation and teamwork are required to get these vehicles ready to fly," Gerstenmaier said. "We're focused on completing assembly and moving into the full utilization phase of the station. This mission opens the door for another one of our international partners to join in the important work and science on the space station." The 14 ton, 2.5 foot long Columbus module adds over 2600 cubic feet of pressurized volume to the space station. Built for the European Space Agency by EADS Space Transportation, it is the centerpiece of the European contribution to the station. Columbus will be controlled from Europe's own "mission control" in Germany. It contains 10 racks. Four of them will house European science experiments and were already installed in the module when it was launched. One rack will be used for storage and five of them will be loaded with NASA experiments in the future. The official mission duration was 12 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds. Atlantis traveled 5.3 mission miles over 202 orbits 200-plus miles above Earth. An hour before landing, at 7:59 in the morning while flying 212 miles high above the Indian Ocean, Atlantis twin Orbital Maneuvering System engines fired to life for a 2 minute, 43 second burn to decelerate Atlantis by almost 200 miles per hour and start its long descent to the ground. Thirty-five minutes later, the shuttle reached so-called entry interface, re-entering the atmosphere above the South Pacific Ocean, streaking along a northeast trajectory that took it over Central America and the Caribbean Ocean. Frick took control of Atlantis' descent as the orbiter began a wide left overhead turn to line up on the glidepath to Runway 15, the north-northeast to south-southeast runway at KSC, touching down a few minutes later. About an hour after landing, Frick, along with pilot Alan Poindexter and mission specialists Stan Love, Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel from the European Space Agency, walked off the "people mover" where they had removed their launch and entry suits and received an initial medical checkup. Following tradition, they walked around Atlantis to see how their ship fared during its two week mission and fiery re-entry. Returning ISS astronaut Dan Tani remained aboard the people mover in a recliner for the ride back to crew quarters. Weaker than the shuttle astronauts following his four month stay aboard the space station, he will receive more extensive medical checkups and will require a bit more time to get re-acclimated to gravity than his counterparts. Now that Atlantis on the ground, attention at Kennedy Space Center now turns to the March 11 launch of Endeavour on STS-123. During an ambitious 16-day flight, shuttle and station astronauts will attach the first of two pressurized modules, Kibo, for the Japanese lab contribution to the space station. They will also deliver and assemble in space the Canadian Dextrous Manipulator, DEXTRE, which will function much like a hand for the Canadian-built robot arm already on ISS. With five spacewalks on tap for installing two major space station components, STS-123 will be one of the most complex shuttle missions ever undertaken and is critical to future assembly flights. Endeavour rolled out to the launch pad two days ago. The seven member crew, led by veteran astronaut Dominic Gorie, is scheduled to fly to KSC this Saturday to participate in emergency training and a launch rehearsal as part of the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test that will take place Feb. 23 through 25. (The Spacearium / SpaceflightNews.net)
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