02/20/08: Atlantis Home; Endeavour Ready at Pad 39A.

Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven-member crew landed on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center at 9:07 a.m. EST today, completing a 13-day journey of more than 5,296,842 miles. Atlantis touched down at exactly 9:07:10 a.m. with the nose gear touching down at 9:07:20 a.m. Wheels stop [...]

02/19/08: STS-122, Atlantis: Weather Good for Landing at KSC.

After a check of all of the systems they will use for a return to Earth, Atlantis’ seven-member crew packed up today in preparation for landing Wednesday. Atlantis is planned to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:07 a.m. EST, with the forecast of [...]

02/17/08: STS-122 Bids Expedition 16 Crew Farewell.

After the Expedition 16 and STS-122 crews bid one another farewell, the hatches closed at 18:03 UT (1:03 p.m. EST) between the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis is slated to undock from the orbital outpost on Monday at 09:27 UT (4:27 a.m. EST). – NASA

02/17/08: STS-122: [...]

02/15/08: STS-122: Love and Walheim Perform Final EVA.

The mission’s third spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 13:40 UT. At that time, the Space Station’s robotic arm will transfer the first of two external experiment facilities – an observatory used to monitor the Sun, called SOLAR – to the Columbus module for installation. That task should [...]

02/08/08: STS-122: Atlantis to Dock with ISS on Saturday.

The seven member crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis has begun its first full day in space on an 11-day mission that delivers the newest research module, the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory, to the International Space Station. Installing the laboratory, named for Christopher Columbus, is the primary [...]

02/05/08: STS-122: Atlantis Astronauts Expected to Launch on Thursday.

Mission Commander Steve Frick and Pilot Alan Poindexter started the day practicing landing the shuttle in the Shuttle Training Aircraft. The airplane is a Gulfstream business jet, outfitted to mimic a Space Shuttle’s flying characteristics. Although it takes a combination of modifications to the outside of the [...]

02/01/08: Progress 27 to Undock from Station on Monday.

The Progress 27 (P27) cargo ship will undock from the Pirs docking compartment of the International Space Station on Monday at 22:30 UT (5:30 a.m. EST). Loaded with trash, the P27 will undock and deorbit to later burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. This sets the stage [...]

01/31/08: STS-122: Atlantis Set to Launch With Columbus on February 7.

NASA managers formally set the launch date of Space Shuttle Atlantis for 7 February at 14:45 EST (21:45 UT). Atlantis is set to carry the European Columbus laboratory into orbit. After day-long discussions in the executive Flight Readiness Review, Shuttle engineers were given the go [...]

01/19/08: Expedition 16 Crew Prepares for EVA, Jan 30.

During the week, the crew also prepared spacesuits, and participated in a conference with personnel at Mission Control in Houston to review procedures for the spacewalk set for January 30. During that excursion, Whitson and Tani will maneuver along the station’s starboard truss to the 1A Solar [...]

12/21/07: STS-122: External Tank Foam Removal Operations this Weekend.

Foam removal operations are scheduled to be completed over the weekend at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, as part of the plan to remedy failed readings on space shuttle Atlantis’ fuel sensor system. The foam is being removed from a small section of Atlantis’ external fuel tank, so [...]