Atlantis preparing for Thursday landing at Kennedy Space Center

Although weather forecasts look threatening, NASA will attempt to land space shuttle Atlantis tomorrow afternoon at Kennedy Space Center, where it launched into orbit two weeks ago.

Carpenter Newton reporting for Digital Journal –– Mission Control in Houston has given a go for the landing of space shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to happen tomorrow afternoon at Kennedy Space Center, weather pending. NASA will take only two landing opportunities tomorrow, the first happening at 1:55 p.m. EDT and the second coming at 3:30 p.m. Weather forecasts are calling for scattered thundershowers, but mission managers are willing to chance bad weather in order to land at Kennedy. The space agency does not want to use Edwards Air Force Base, the alternate landing site in California, because it adds the time and expense of transporting the orbiter cross-country to Florida aboard a modified 747 jet. Should landing on Thursday not work out due to weather, NASA will call upon both landing sites for attempts on Friday. The STS-117 mission has been a complete success, with astronauts installing a new truss onto the International Space Station, folding a solar array, activating the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, and completing a number of get ahead tasks that will help future missions. In addition to the mission goals, the Atlantis crew also repaired the orbiter after it sustained damage during launch, and helped the Expedition 15 crew on the ISS solve a potentially disastrous computer glitch.