Live in orbit: Last tasks for Atlantis

Wrapping up the mission

The crew of Atlantis and the space station today will work to complete the transfer of supplies.

The space station's orbit will be reboosted at 7:18 a.m. EST, and the crews of both vehicles will participate in a joint news conference at 8:40 a.m. EST.

The shuttle crew will enjoy some free time, while European astronauts Leo Eyharts and Hans Schlegel labor to get the newly installed Columbus module up and running.

Today is the extra day added to the mission

"You've got a lot of unpacking to do," said space station flight director Ron Spencer. "They're still setting up science equipment and checking instruments."

Today the shuttle will use its engines and extra fuel to reboost the station's orbit and transfer 70 pounds of extra oxygen to the ISS.

The station crew will set up a couple of space station payload racks that were not scheduled for installation until after the shuttle had left.

"So, we're geting significantly ahead of the timeline," said Spencer. "Even though we added two extra days to the mission, we're really getting a lot more than that out of the mission because of the fast pace the crew's working."

During three spacewalks, astronauts transferred the Columbus module to the space station, swapped out a nitrogen tank, installed two European science platforms and recovered a failed gyroscope for return to Earth.

Atlantis is scheduled to land at 9:06 a.m. Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center, shortly before the Navy shoots down a low-orbiting, non-functioning spy satellite that carries a toxic half-ton of hydrazine rocket fuel.





Click for interactive graphic on Columbus installation.

Click for flight day 10 execute package.

Click for STS-122 fact sheet.

Click for NASA-TV schedule, which details mission events.