Shuttle Atlantis Landing

Shuttle atlantis landing- The crew of Atlantis began deorbit procedures just hours ahead of its final return to Earth that will bring down the curtain on NASA's 30-year space shuttle program.

The four American astronauts onboard shuttered the vessel's payload bay doors, retracted its orbital navigational systems and made final preparations on the historic flight home to Kennedy Space Center, where NASA meteorologists were forecasting perfect conditions for the shuttle's pre-dawn landing.