The shuttle Atlantis began its descent to Earth Wednesday, as it wrapped up the final mission of its 25-year career.
NASA cleared the shuttle for an 8:48 am (1248 GMT ) landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, giving it authorization to break out of orbit at 1141 GMT for a 67-minute descent towards the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The shuttle uncoupled from the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) space on Sunday after a mission to deliver tons of supplies.
The trip back to Earth caps the 25-year career of one of NASA's iconic spacecrafts, which has logged some 115 million miles (185 million kilometers).
Wednesday's landing will bring an end to a 12-day mission during which Atlantis delivered more than 12 tonnes of material to the International Space Station.
It was Atlantis' 32nd and final mission and will be followed by only two more shuttle flights, one by Discovery in mid-September and the program's final mission by Endeavour at the end of November.
Only two more shuttle missions remain -- one in September for Discovery and the final blast off for Endeavour in November -- before the curtain falls on this era of human spaceflight.
Once the shuttle program ends, the United States will rely on Russian Soyuz rockets to carry its astronauts to the space station until a commercial US launcher can be developed. That is scheduled for 2015.
Copyright 2010 AFP American Edition
