NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis Landed TODAY (THURDAY) 9-21-2006 @ 6:21 AM. EDT~yahoo

UPDATE: A BEAUTIFUL LANDING AT RIGHT BEFORE DAWN. WELCOME BACK HOME ATLANTIS CREW !


ATLANTIS IS DOING THE DEORBIT BURN AS I SPEAK ! SHE IS ON THE WAY IN !!


NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis Set for landing today (Thursday) Landing at runway 33 at Kennedy Spaxe Center in Florida. @ 6:21 EDT.









http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/sts-115/landing-vlcc.html

The Space Shuttle Atlantis, led by Commander Brent Jett, is scheduled to land at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. on Thursday, Sept. 21, completing space shuttle mission STS-115. Touchdown is expected at about 6:21 a.m. EDT at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility. Atlantis began its mission of nearly 12 days to the International Space Station on Sept. 9.

The crew is scheduled to fire the shuttle's braking rockets at 5:14 a.m. to slow the spacecraft and begin its fiery plunge through Earth's atmosphere. Atlantis' flight path will carry the ship across the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico before it makes landfall over Florida near Fort Myers and zips northeast to Cape Canaveral.

The shuttle was originally scheduled to land on Wednesday, Sept. 20, but waved off due to weather conditions and the presence of unknown objects near the shuttle. After additional inspection of the vehicle yesterday and today for possible orbital debris damage, the mission management team gave its approval for landing.

Landing is slated to occur on orbit 187 at the mission-elapsed time of 11 days, 19 hours, six minutes. The deorbit burn will occur at 5:14 a.m. EDT. A second Kennedy landing opportunity is available at 7:57 a.m. EDT, with the deorbit burn at 6:51 a.m. EDT.

Mission managers are expected to attempt a landing only at Kennedy Thursday unless there are technical reasons that would necessitate other plans.

If landing occurs as scheduled, this will be the 63rd landing at Kennedy in the history of the shuttle program. Atlantis will be serviced and prepared for its next mission, STS-117, set for February 2007.

About an hour after touchdown, the STS-115 crew members will undergo initial physical examinations and meet with their families. A post landing news conference with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin will be held no earlier than 8 a.m. EDT. A post-mission press conference with the STS-115 crew is scheduled at Kennedy's News Center no earlier than six hours after landing. Questions for both events will be taken only at Kennedy.

Kennedy's News Center will open for landing activities at 3 a.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 21 and close at 4:30 p.m. EDT. The STS-115 mission badges are in effect through landing. The pass and identification building on State Road 3 will be open for media badging activities on Thursday from 3 to 4:30 a.m. EDT. The last bus will depart from Kennedy's Press Site for the Shuttle Landing Facility an hour before landing.
















































































The inspection was prompted by Tuesday's sighting of an unknown object that apparently shook loose from Atlantis during pre-landing checkouts of the shuttle's body flaps and steering thrusters. Eight hours of surveys using cameras on Atlantis' robot arm and a sensor-laden 50-foot boom failed to detect any sign the object was dislodged from the ship's critical heat armor.

As a result, NASA managers have cleared Atlantis for landing. The identity of the object, as well as several other small pieces of debris seen floating from the shuttle during the past two days, remains a mystery.

"Nothing was found to be missing or damaged from the thermal protection system -- the heat shield of the space shuttle Atlantis -- or, in fact, any other part of the shuttle," said Wayne Hale, NASA's shuttle program manager. "We feel very confident that we're heading for a good landing opportunity."


Atlantis' six astronauts spent Wednesday inspecting the shuttle using a camera on the orbiter's robot arm. Once that work was complete, the crew broke for lunch and mission managers studied the video for any signs of damage to the ship's thermal skin.

Although nothing of concern was found, shuttle officials ordered a second round of inspections using laser sensors and a camera on the boom to be safe. The crew was carrying out the work when shuttle commander Brent Jett reported three more objects floating away from Atlantis.

Jett said one object had the appearance of a "a reflective cloth or a metallic looking-cloth." Another astronaut compared the items to a piece of foil and a pair of rings.

Lead flight director Paul Dye later explained that it's not unusual for crews to see bits of debris as they orbit the Earth. Often, he said, the mystery objects are pieces of ice or lint that have come from the shuttle.

"It's amazing how something in bright sunlight can look much bigger than it really is," Dye said.

While no damage was discovered in the inspections, NASA managers noted that two objects previously seen on the ship's belly are no longer there. One is a strip of ceramic fabric called a gap filler that had been lodged between two of the shuttle's heat-resistant tiles. The other is a small piece of an orange plastic shim used in tile preparations before flight.

Both objects had been visible earlier in the mission but were not seen during today's inspections. It's unclear if the missing items were among the two objects seen Tuesday.

Hale said the shim was "most likely the culprit."

"It was there before," he added. "It's not there now. It was most likely shaken loose during the flight control system checkout. We probably will never know for sure."


VIEW INSIDE THE SHUTTLE WHILE THEY WERE VIEWING TO SEE WHERE THE STRANGE OBJECTS CAME FROM THAT THEY SAW. MORE BELOW ABOUT TOUCHDOWN.




Landing is slated to occur on orbit 187 at the mission-elapsed time of 11 days, 19 hours, six minutes. The deorbit burn will occur at 5:14 a.m. EDT. A second Kennedy landing opportunity is available at 7:57 a.m. EDT, with the deorbit burn at 6:51 a.m. EDT. Mission managers are expected to attempt a landing only at Kennedy Thursday unless there are technical reasons that would necessitate other plans. If landing occurs as scheduled, this will be the 63rd landing at Kennedy in the history of the shuttle program. Atlantis will be serviced and prepared for its next mission, STS-117, set for February 2007. About an hour after touchdown, the STS-115 crew members will undergo initial physical examinations and meet with their families. A post landing news conference with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin will be held no earlier than 8 a.m. EDT. A post-mission press conference with the STS-115 crew is scheduled at Kennedy's News Center no earlier than six hours after landing. Questions for both events will be taken only at Kennedy. Kennedy's News Center will open for landing activities at 3 a.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 21 and close at 4:30 p.m. EDT. The STS-115 mission badges are in effect through landing. The pass and identification building on State Road 3 will be open for media badging activities on Thursday from 3 to 4:30 a.m. EDT. The last bus will depart from Kennedy's Press Site for the Shuttle Landing Facility an hour before landing. For the latest information on the STS-115 mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html