Another picture-perfect landing!!!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph
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Space Shuttle Atlantis and six astronauts ended a journey of more than 4.8 million miles with an 8:48am EDT landing Wednesday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flawless landing wrapped up a highly successful mission to deliver the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1, known as "Rassvet" ("dawn" in Russian), to the International Space Station.
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"It was smooth as silk," STS-132 Commander Ken Ham said of Atlantis' entry and landing. "We were clearly riding in the middle of a fireball, and it was spectacular. The windows, all of them, were bright, brilliant orange. One of the neatest things was when we flew right into orbital sunrise."
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This was the final scheduled flight for Atlantis, which has logged more than 120 million miles during its 25 years of service. The orbiter will go through standard prelaunch preparations as the "launch-on-need" vehicle for Endeavour's STS-134 mission. That flight currently is targeted for November.
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"Atlantis treated us very well. She was just an incredible ship," Mission Specialist Michael Good said, citing the precision of the deorbit burn as an example of Atlantis' performance. "The engines had it trimmed out to within .01 of what the burn was supposed to be."
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The all-veteran astronaut crew will head home to Houston on Thursday. The public is invited to attend the welcome ceremony for the crew Thursday at 4 p.m. CDT at Ellington Field's NASA Hangar 276.
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"We're thrilled, because we accomplished the mission that was put in front of us," Ham said. He explained that in addition to the technical objectives of the 12-day mission, the astronauts also wanted to enjoy themselves and share their enthusiasm of spaceflight with the world.
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"We've been hearing stories about how folks have been having fun and enjoyed watching us have fun, and that's really important to us."
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STS-132 is the 132nd shuttle mission and the 34th mission to visit the space station. The next mission, STS-133, is slated to launch in September.
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Note: This WAS the last scheduled mission EVER for Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Yep... To the history books she now goes!
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Safe Landing Ends Atlantis' Final Flight
About this video: STS-132 Commander Ken Ham and his five crewmates: Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Steve Bowen, Mike Good and Piers Sellers are safely back on Earth after Space Shuttle Atlantis glided to a picture-perfect landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. on Wednesday morning, May 26. It was Atlantis' 32nd and final flight, traveling a total of more than 120 million miles. The 12-day, STS-132 mission delivered the Russian Mini Research Module-1, Rassvet ("dawn") to the International Space Station.
This video posted on YouTube by NASAtelevision
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We have seen the landing -
Now let’s check out the launch again too.
Pretty COOL stuff, with music!
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STS-132 Ascent Highlights
About this Video: Space Shuttle Atlantis and the STS-132 crew begin the journey to the International Space Station on May 14, 2010.
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In this last video -
We enjoy a short recap of the overall
STS-132 Mission
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STS-132 Mission Video Highlights
About this video: Highlights of Atlantis' STS-132 mission to the International Space Station are presented in images and video.
. Many, MANY more STS-132 videos can be seen HERE
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* Mission Wind Down *
Read Latest News and Updates
at NASA.gov.
Again... WELCOME HOME!!!
And job well done...
AubreyJ.........
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