The Atlantis astronauts are zooming toward Edwards Air Force Base and a touchdown that will wind up a highly successful Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.
Flying the shuttle upside down and backward, Atlantis mission commander Scott Altman fired the shuttle's twin maneuvering engines in the direction of travel for two minutes and 36 seconds, slowing the ship enough to drop it from orbit.
About a minute into the burn, Mission Control and the crew noted a higher-than-normal pressure in a drain line on one of the shuttle's Auxiliary Power Units, which provide the hydraulic power need to operate critical shuttle landing systems.
Mission Control told the crew no action was necessary.
"Atlantis is terrific spaceship," Altman said once the burn was complete.
Touchdown is scheduled for 11:39 a.m. on Runway 22 at the Mojave Desert military base.
The deorbit burn took place as the shuttle passed 184 miles above the southern tip of South Africa -- a point more than 5,000 miles away from the concrete landing strip at Edwards.
The touchdown will mark the 53rd shuttle landing at Edwards.
The weather there is excellent.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
3 comments:
What's the elevated reading on the APU drain line mean?
What's the confidence level in the integrity of the heat shielding tiles system?
Brian: The elevated pressure is something to watch, but the crew has been told that no action is needed. The concern of course is that a rupture in the line could spew hazardous rocket fuels around the aft end of the orbiter. Which would not be good.
Confidence level in the heat shielding is high. No damage detected in the late inspection done a couple of days before the first landing attempt.
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