Atlantis is heading home after pilot Alan Poindexter performed a 45-minute fly-around maneuver of the International Space Station while the shuttle crew photographed the outpost.
Two separation burns will put Atlantis some 40 miles from the station, while the crew performs an 8:20 a.m. EST late inspection of its thermal protecion system before returning to Earth Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile at Kennedy Space Center, shuttle Endeavour reached the mid-point in its 3.4-mile journey to launch Pad 39A at 2:30 a.m. Attached to its external tank and solid rocket boosters, Endeavour is traveling at 1 mph atop a crawler-transporter.
Atlantis undocked from the station about 4:24 a.m. EST. During the mission, the shuttle crew added the 27,000-pound, 500-cubic-meter European Columbus module to the station. Endeavour, which launches March 11, will carry the Japanese Kibo module to join the station.
Atlantis is scheduled to make a 9:06 a.m. Wednesday landing at KSC. If the weather in Florida prevents landing Wednesday, Atlantis will land at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Wednesday to clear a path for the Navy to shoot down a failed U.S. spy satellite that could otherwise make a random re-entry with a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic, frozen rocket fuel.
IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the FLORIDA TODAY photo of shuttle Endeavour on launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center today after an overnight move from the Vehicle Assembly Building.
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