Commander Stephen Frick safely guided Atlantis down through a sky dotted with thin, wispy clouds and onto the runway. "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 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.
Tani's mission was marred by the death of his 90-year-old mother in a traffic accident in December, halfway through his space station stay. Even though the astronaut was able to listen in to her funeral, he said it was difficult being so far away at such a tragic time. He couldn't wait to be reunited with his wife, two young daughters and other family members.
After two months of delay because of fuel gauge trouble, Atlantis ended up with an unusually trouble-free flight. Heaters for a set of small thrusters failed earlier this week, but posed no concern for re-entry. And a radiator hose that was bent before the flight retracted neatly into its box when the payload bay doors were closed in the wee hours for landing.
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 tuneup.
