Shuttle Atlantis is in good shape and ready for tomorrow's scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Center.
This morning the six-member crew prepped the shuttle by stowing away equipment and successfully checking the flight control system. NASA officials also said the shuttle's heat shield, which was inspected yesterday, looks good.
This afternoon the The Ku-band antenna assembly, which is used for communication and television downlink, retracted back into the payload bay. The doors are scheduled to be closed about 5 a.m. Wednesday morning.
The deorbit burn will take place at 7:41 a.m. clearing the way for an 8:48 a.m. landing.
As of now NASA officials are saying there's a 50/50 chance the weather will cooperate for landing.
Clouds and scattered showers may delay the first attempt. If so, astronauts will try again at 10:48 a.m.
If both of those attempts don't work, their give it another try at KSC on Thursday.
They have enough supplies to stay in orbit until Friday.
This is the last scheduled flight for Atlantis.
With the completion of this mission, there are just two scheduled flights left before the shuttle program is retired. After returning, Atlantis will be prepared as a rescue vehicle in case the fleet's final mission runs into trouble. There is some talk about using Atlantis to fly one additional shuttle mission, but it would require an extra $600 million to $800 million.
No comments:
Post a Comment