The shuttle and its seven astronauts landed at 9:07 am EST (19.37 IST) at NASA’s spaceport at Kennedy Space Centre, where the crew’s families and top space program managers gathered to welcome them home.
Commander Stephen Frick safely guided Atlantis down through a sky dotted with thin, wispy clouds and onto the runway.
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“We’re extremely happy to be home,” Frick told Mission Control.
NASA wanted Atlantis back as soon as possible to clear the way for the US Navy to shoot down a dying spy satellite on the verge of smashing into Earth with a load of toxic fuel. The missile could be launched as early as Wednesday night from a warship in the Pacific.
Atlantis circled Earth 202 times during its mission, which began Feb 7. Nine of those 13 days were spent at the International Space Station, where the two crews installed the European science lab, Columbus, that was ferried up by the shuttle.
A French astronaut, Leopold Eyharts, remained at the orbiting outpost with an American and a Russian to get Columbus up and running. He replaced NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, who was returning home aboard Atlantis after 120 days in space.
After two months of delay because of fuel gauge trouble, Atlantis ended up with an unusually trouble-free flight.
NASA’s next mission is just three weeks away:
Endeavour is scheduled to blast off with the first piece of Japan’s massive space station lab on March 11. The second piece of the Japanese Kibo lab – Kibo means hope – was supposed to go up in April aboard Discovery, but has been delayed until May because of shuttle fuel tank work.
Atlantis, meanwhile, won’t fly again until the end of August, when it takes a team of repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for one final tune-up.
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