Space Shuttle Atlantis lands in Florida

Ferry Atlantis space to Earth.

DailyTech reported that the space shuttle Atlantis had left the international space station on Monday after a successful mission to install the European Columbus laboratory module.

In addition to the installation of the model of Columbus, the Atlantis crew also made three spacewalks during the mission today and gave the ISS flight engineer Dan Tani a ride back to Earth on a set designed for special reclining astronauts returning of long-term space flight.

The New York Times reported that the Atlantis landed at 9:07 am Eastern time yesterday. NASA had prepped both Kennedy Space Center and the strength of Edwards Air Force Base in California for touchdown. NASA claims the agency prepped both landing areas which if one had bad weather.

Atlantis landed in Florida, which the New York Times said that NASA saves the time and expense of the shuttle shipping throughout the country. Atlantis was inspected before being cleared for landing to ensure that its protective heat shields were intact.

During a re-entry heating circuit is not reported, leading to the failure of four small stern thrusters that were not needed for the re-entry maneuver.