CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis are hoping for
clear skies over Florida tomorrow as they near the end of a successful construction
flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
Shuttle
commander Stephen Frick and his six crewmates are scheduled to land Wednesday at
9:07 a.m. EST (1407 GMT) here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), though the
space agency has also called up a backup runway at California's Edwards Air
Force Base.
"We're
certainly very hopeful that we'll be getting home tomorrow at the Kennedy Space
Center," Frick told ABC News today. "It sounds like we'll be very likely to
land at Kennedy or Edwards."
Frick and
his crew are wrapping up a 13-day spaceflight
that delivered the European Space Agency's (ESA) Columbus
laboratory and a new crewmember to the space station. Atlantis undocked
from the ISS early Monday after nine days working alongside the station's
three-person crew to install and outfit the 10-ton Columbus during three
spacewalks.
Current
forecasts from the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at NASA's Johnson Space Center
in Houston predict fair weather over the shuttle runway at KSC on Wednesday
morning, with a slight chance of rain possible at Edwards later in the day.
"Atlantis
and her crew are ready for reentry tomorrow," NASA flight director Bryan Lunney
said in an afternoon briefing.
Lunney said
Atlantis' heat shield has been given a clean bill of health based on the crew's
Monday inspection of its wing edges and nose cap. The loss of four aft-mounted
thrusters due to a heater glitch late yesterday will not affect Wednesday's
landing, as they are not required for reentry, he added.
NASA traditionally
targets its KSC runway for a returning shuttle's first day of landing
opportunities to cut down on the extra time and costs involved in hauling an
orbiter back to its Florida hangar . A California landing typically adds a
week and $1.7 million to an orbiter's turnaround for its next flight, NASA
officials have said.
But space agency officials
decided
last week to activate the Edwards landing strip in California's Mojave
Desert to give Atlantis more chances to land and clear the way for the U.S. military
to shoot
down a defunct spy satellite. The U.S. Navy plans to launch a missile from
an Aegis cruiser in the northern Pacific to destroy the failing reconnaissance
satellite and prevent its half-ton load of toxic rocket fuel from endangering
people on the ground.
Atlantis
has two chances to land at KSC and two more to set down at Edwards, though
Lunney said he plans to use only three of the available opportunities due to
the shuttle's available water supply for cooling. But, he added, the space
agency is under no pressure from the military to land Atlantis, even if weather
does not cooperate.
"We're not
going to land the vehicle until it is safe for our crew," he said.
Frick and
shuttle pilot Alan Poindexter, both active U.S. Navy officers, had words of encouragement
for their seafaring comrades hoping to smash
the falling satellite after Atlantis lands.
"My first
thought when we talk about that is 'Go Navy!'" said Frick, adding that debris
from the satellite's destruction will be too low to pose a threat to the ISS. "We'll
be interested to watch and see what happens."
Riding home
aboard Atlantis is U.S. astronaut Dan Tani, who is returning to Earth after
four months in orbit aboard the ISS. Tani's mother died in December after his
mission was extended due to launch delays for Atlantis' current spaceflight. He
said Wednesday that he believed he had worked through his grief and thanked family
and flight controllers for their support.
"Like a lot
of things, you just deal with what you're given," he told CNN. "My job had me
on the space station and life happens. Great things and terrible things happen."
Atlantis'
STS-122 mission is the first of up to six planned shuttle flights for NASA this
year. In addition to delivering Europe's 1.4 billion euro ($2 billion) Columbus
lab, shuttle astronauts also replaced an empty nitrogen tank and retrieved a
broken gyroscope during their mission's spacewalks.
The shuttle
astronauts have aimed video cameras at several radiator hoses to record how
they retract tomorrow as Atlantis' cargo bay doors are closed, Lunney said,
adding that the imagery will help engineers on Earth. One of the hoses had to be
repositioned before the shuttle's Feb. 7 launch after it bent the wrong way.
Atlantis
has enough supplies to stay aloft until Friday, but flight controllers
typically keep one day in reserve for unexpected technical glitches. The STS-122
astronauts spent today converting their spacecraft for flight through Earth's
atmosphere today, and are gearing up for their landing tomorrow, Lunney said.
"I think
they're in great shape," he added. "They're well rested and ready to go land
tomorrow."
NASA is
broadcasting Atlantis' STS-122 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for SPACE.com's
shuttle mission coverage and NASA TV feed.
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