spacetoday.net: Atlantis lands in California

Posted: Fri, Jun 22, 2007, 8:30 PM ET (0030 GMT)
STS-117: landing (NASA)

The space shuttle Atlantis landed safely Friday afternoon at Edwards Air Force Base in California after weather prevented attempts to land in Florida. Atlantis landed at Edwards at 3:49 pm EDT (1949 GMT) Friday on the first of three possible landing windows there. Atlantis went to California after weather prevented landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the second straight day. The landing ended the nearly 14-day STS-117 mission, which features the addition of a new truss segment and solar panel unit to the ISS. The shuttle also returns with ISS astronaut Sunita Williams, who spent six months on the ISS; she was replaced by Clay Anderson, who flew to the ISS on the shuttle. The next shuttle mission, STS-118, is scheduled for launch in August.