CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Atlantis cruised to a night owl landing at Kennedy Space Center late Tuesday, winding up a mission to mount a new portal for spacewalkers at the International Space Station while finishing the first full phase of outpost assembly.
With five astronauts strapped into its crew cabin, Atlantis made a brick-like dive through hazy, star-studded skies, touching down on a floodlit runway about 11:39 p.m. EDT (0339 GMT Wednesday).
| Landing Anniversary |
NASA may land its spaceships on a runway today, but it used to be that adventures into space ended with capsules dangling on the end of giant parachutes splashing down into the ocean, just as Apollo 11 did 32 years ago Tuesday. |
Trademark twin sonic booms signaled the ship's arrival minutes earlier, a resounding finale to a flight that left NASA poised for a new stage of station construction that will be capped with the addition of European and Japanese science laboratories in 2004 and 2005."Wheels stop, Houston," shuttle skipper Steve Lindsey said as Atlantis rolled to a stop on Runway 15 at NASA's coastal Florida spaceport.
"That looked like an outstanding landing after an outstanding mission," astronaut Gus Loria told the four-man, one-woman crew from NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston.
"It's great to be home," Lindsey added.
Rain showers had forced the astronauts to forego two landing opportunities early Tuesday. But near-pristine weather moved into the Cape Canaveral area by mid-day, clearing the way for the 18th night landing in shuttle program history.
Coming 12 days and 18 hours after a July 12 launch, the high-speed landing brought to an end a mission to install a $164 million airlock on the station and then mount four high-pressure gas tanks on the outer shell of the new two-room chamber.
Shaped like a giant Genie bottle, the 6.5-ton airlock features a tunnel-like orbital portal and a wider suit-up room that doubles as a servicing center for either U.S. or Russian spacesuits.
Dubbed Quest, the pressure chamber will enable station tenants to carry out their own spacewalking construction and repair work in the absence of visiting shuttles, giving outpost crews an unprecedented level of self-sufficiency.
NASA's 105th shuttle mission, meanwhile, closed out the first full phase of a $60 billion construction project that began when two initial building blocks - a Russian space tug and the U.S. Unity module - were launched and linked in orbit in late 1998.
Next page: Mission Success
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