Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla. This rescue mission would have been a modified version of the STS-115 mission with the launch date being brought forward and the crew reduced. After the spacewalk, the station's mobile transporter was moved to a worksite on the P3 truss to inspect portions of that truss.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis lands before dawn Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., after a twelve day mission to the international space station.
The crew spent the morning resting following their highly successful mission, and then began getting ready for the undocking by carrying out transfers of ISS equipment and science experiments onto Atlantis ready for the trip home.[37]. Mission specialists Joe Tanner and Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper checked out the spacesuits and tools that they, Burbank and MacLean used during spacewalks set for Days 4, 5, and 7. The original mission scope included delivery of the second left-side truss segment (ITS P3/P4); a solar array; and batteries. The primary payload was the second left-side ITS P3/P4 Truss segment, a pair of solar arrays, and associated batteries. The students also designed Steve MacLean's personal patch for this mission.[2]. The de-orbit burn was initiated at 05:15 EDT, lasting 2 minutes 40 seconds with two engines burning well throughout. The mission delivered the second port-side truss segment (ITS P3/P4), a pair of solar arrays (2A and 4A), and batteries. The phenomenon, called "stiction," also occurred during a shuttle mission in late 2000 when the station's first set of solar panels was deployed. The Columbia accident in February 2003 pushed the date back to 27 August 2006, which was again moved back for various reasons, including a threat from Tropical Storm Ernesto and the strongest lightning strike to ever hit an occupied shuttle launchpad. During the EVA they installed power and data cables between the P1 & P3/P4 trusses, released the P3/P4 truss' launch restraints and a number of other tasks to configure the truss for upcoming activities. Question 577900: A worldwide organization of academics claims that the mean IQ score of 115 its members is , with a standard deviation of 15 . Commander Jett took control of Atlantis a minute later, and, with Kennedy Space Center Runway 33 in sight, began bringing his ship in for a landing. With Tropical Storm Ernesto targeting Florida, NASA scrubbed its scheduled Sunday launch. The ISS above Earth, following the installation of a new truss segment and solar arrays during STS-115, Post Mission Management Team (MMT) press briefing, following, List of International Space Station spacewalks, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, "Mike Leinbach, STS-115 Launch Director, NASA Direct interview", "CBS News Space Place – STS-115 Status Report", "Foam still a key concern for shuttle launch", "Shuttle communications antenna bolts a concern", "NASA to Replace Antenna Bolts on Shuttle, "NASA scrubs Atlantis launch under storm threat", "Shuttle launch window extended to 8 September", "Atlantis launch slips to Friday at the earliest", "Suspect sensor stays 'wet' after tank drained", "STS-115: Second EVA Successfully Completed", "Initial solar array deploy held up for troubleshooting", "Second space station solar array wing deployed", "Space station spreads its new power wings", Heat shield cleared; Shannon talks night launches, Hubble, Shuttles to resume nighttime launches; Atlantis damaged, "NASA has 'high confidence' Atlantis in good shape", "Additional heat shield inspections ruled out". Following the review of these scans, together with an overnight analysis of the payload bay by Ground Flight Controllers, it was determined that there remained no safety issue with Atlantis, and Mission Controllers cleared the Orbiter for re-entry. Because it happened on the ET side opposite the Orbiter it was never a danger to the Shuttle. We are off to a good start on assembly. The unfurling of the panels continued throughout the morning in stages to prevent the panels sticking, as they did during STS-97. This caused some news agencies to report that Friday as the last chance for a launch until October. We’re thanking our biggest fans with a big offer! Note:The P3/P4 Truss segment and batteries were so heavy (more than 17.5 short tons, or roughly 16 metric tons) that the crew count was reduced from seven to six.[2]. Following the interviews, the crew continued their preparations for re-entry by stowing unnecessary equipment and other tasks prior to landing.