After a successful mission to the International Space Station, space shuttle Atlantis and its STS-117 crew arrived home today at Edwards Air Force Base, one day later than planned. The landing was perfect.

Cloudy skies and thunderstorms forced NASA to delay landing of space shuttle Atlantis to Friday, when it will open Edwards Air Force Base in addition to Kennedy Space Center for landing opportunities.

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.

“Exploration isn’t necessary or always logical. It’s something that comes from inside each and every one of us,” astronaut Sunita Williams said in an emotional farewell to the International Space Station, where she has spent the past 191 days.

The fourth spacewalk for Atlantis astronauts was completed on Sunday, accomplishing all extravehicular goals of the STS-117 mission. With a cleared heat shield, the shuttle is slated to close hatches with the ISS on Monday and undock the following day.

NASA approved space shuttle Atlantis’ heat shield for reentry today, one day removed from a repair performed to a damaged thermal protection blanket. Also, all critical computers that failed aboard the ISS are now functioning normally.

Two of three critical computers on the International Space Station were restored this afternoon while astronauts outside the orbiting laboratory repaired a damaged thermal blanket on shuttle Atlantis and successfully retracted a stubborn solar array.

Focus of Atlantis’ mission to the International Space Station is quickly turning to three critical Russian computers that have failed, resulting in what could be a potential unmanning of the station should problems not be fixed soon.

Potential critical problems have been looming for the International Space Station, but a ray of hope was delivered today when Russians were able to make contact with a troubled computer. ALSO: Solar array halfway folded; third spacewalk tomorrow.

The second of four spacewalks scheduled for mission STS-117 was completed this evening, although all tasks weren’t accomplished. While the action was taking place above, NASA decided exactly when and how to fix damage to shuttle Atlantis.

The International Space Station is sporting a new set of solar array wings. Unfolded this afternoon, the new arrays give the station increased power capacity. ALSO: Fire alarm goes off on ISS and NASA continues to discuss Atlantis repair options.

James Reilly and Danny Olivas completed the first of four scheduled spacewalks on the International Space Station today, while NASA officials on the ground decided to extend the mission and repair damage space shuttle Atlantis suffered during liftoff.

Today, Atlantis made contact with the International Space Station and prepared for the first of three planned spacewalks to continue construction of the orbiting laboratory. After a perfect launch, “smooth” is the word to describe this docking.

Astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis spent their first day in orbit conducting an inspection of the delicate heat shield, finding a small section of damage that NASA does not appear to be concerned with.

Mother nature may have taken shots in February, but Atlantis evened the score today with a flawless launch, sailing into orbit on its 11-day mission to the International Space Station.

Space shuttle Atlantis is cleared for launch this evening at 7:38 p.m. EDT. Join me right here on Digital Journal for live coverage of the liftoff. All you need to do in order to stay updated is refresh this article for the latest breaking events.

Tomorrow, NASA will send another shuttle into space. Just another event, you say? I did -- until I went and saw one with my own eyes. Read about how I went from hate to love with NASA. Also: Latest update on the status of Atlantis.

Two cosmonauts on the International Space Station exited their confines on Wednesday to accomplish three tasks, while work to launch space shuttle Atlantis continued to run smoothly on the ground.

News hasn’t been kind to NASA the first half of 2007. From a kidnapping scandal to a workplace murder to extensive hail damage on an orbiter and a train derailment, the agency hopes to get things back on track with Friday’s anticipated launch.

With just over four days until the launch of space shuttle Atlantis from Kennedy Space Center, the crew that will fly to the International Space Station arrived inside the complex at 6:30 p.m. this evening and briefly took questions from the media.