Space shuttle Atlantis returns from its last scheduled mission
Space shuttle Atlantis returned from orbit on its last scheduled voyage Wednesday, closing out a 25-year flying career and safely bringing back six astronauts who boosted the International Space Station's power and size.
The smooth landing was indicative of the entire 12-day mission -- NASA's third-to-last shuttle flight.
"That was pretty sweet," Mission Control radioed after Atlantis glided through a clear morning sky and rolled down the runway. "That was a suiting end to an incredible mission."...
Atlantis -- the fourth in NASA's shuttle series -- is ending its run after having spent an accumulated 294 days in orbit and circled Earth 4,648 times. It has carried 189 astronauts and visited the International Space Station 11 times. It also flew seven times to Russia's old Mir station and once to the Hubble Space Telescope.
The shuttle added another 4.8 million miles this time around, for a grand total of 120,650,907 miles over its lifetime.
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The smooth landing was indicative of the entire 12-day mission -- NASA's third-to-last shuttle flight.
"That was pretty sweet," Mission Control radioed after Atlantis glided through a clear morning sky and rolled down the runway. "That was a suiting end to an incredible mission."...
Atlantis -- the fourth in NASA's shuttle series -- is ending its run after having spent an accumulated 294 days in orbit and circled Earth 4,648 times. It has carried 189 astronauts and visited the International Space Station 11 times. It also flew seven times to Russia's old Mir station and once to the Hubble Space Telescope.
The shuttle added another 4.8 million miles this time around, for a grand total of 120,650,907 miles over its lifetime.