The Atlantis astronauts are donning their partial-pressure launch-and-entry suits as countdown clocks tick toward a "go/no-go" decision on a scheduled 9:07 a.m. landing at Kennedy Space Center.
The pumpkin-orange suits weigh 70 pounds and are equipped with parachutes as well as built-in life preservers, their own air supplies and backpacks outfitted with small collapsible life rafts. The suits would protect the astronauts if they were forced to bail out as a result of a serious systems failure.
NASA astronaut Jim Dutton just informed Atlantis mission commander Stephen Frick that the shuttle will be brought in to Runway 15 at KSC. Frick as a result will make a northeast-to-southwest approach to KSC, guiding Atlantis out over the Atlantic during a 235-degree lefthand turn designed to align the ship with the north end of the KSC landing strip.
The runway switch will make the shuttle's trademark twin sonic booms louder in the northern parts of Brevard County.
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