Shuttle Atlantis Streaks Back To Earth

Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of seven have landed at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The shuttle and its seven astronauts landed at 9:07 a.m. at NASA's spaceport at Kennedy Space Center, where the crew's families and top space program managers gathered to welcome them home.

Commander Stephen Frick safely guided Atlantis down through a sky dotted with thin, wispy clouds and onto the runway.

"We're extremely happy to be home," Frick told Mission Control.

NASA wanted Atlantis back as soon as possible to clear the way for the Navy to shoot down a dying spy satellite on the verge of smashing into Earth with a load of toxic fuel. The missile could be launched as early as Wednesday night, from a warship in the Pacific.

Nonetheless it was an uneventful entry and touchdown for the crew, including NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, who was returning home aboard Atlantis after 120 days in space about the International Space Station.

The landing weather was close to ideal, with just thin clouds and a slight tailwind. "Great news," Frick said.

The re-entry path took Atlantis across the South Pacific, over El Salvador and Honduras and then the western tip of Cuba, and up into Florida.

Atlantis circled Earth 202 times during its mission, which began Feb. 7. Nine of those 13 days were spent at the space station, where the two crews installed the European science lab, Columbus, that was ferried up by the shuttle.

A French astronaut, Leopold Eyharts, remained at the orbiting outpost with an American and a Russian to get Columbus up and running.

After two months of delay because of fuel gauge trouble, Atlantis ended up with an unusually trouble-free flight. Heaters for a set of small thrusters failed earlier this week, but posed no concern for re-entry. And a radiator hose that was bent before the flight retracted neatly into its box when the payload bay doors were closed in the wee hours for landing.

NASA's next mission is just three weeks away. Endeavour is scheduled to blast off with the first piece of Japan's massive space station lab on March 11.

Atlantis, meanwhile, won't fly again until the end of August, when it takes a team of repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for one final tuneup.

For more information, visit the STS-122 mission page on the NASA Web site: www.nasa.gov