February 21, 2008	Thursday	Safar 13, 1429

CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida), Feb 20: The shuttle Atlantis safely landed in Florida on Wednesday, completing a successful mission to install Europe’s first space laboratory.

Atlantis touched down at the seaside Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, bringing home seven astronauts following a 13-day mission to deliver the Columbus lab to the orbiting International Space Station.

The shuttle’s return also cleared the skies for US military plans to shoot down an out-of-control spy satellite before it crashes on Earth.

“We are extremely happy to be home,” Atlantis commander Steve Frick commander told mission control. Before returning to Florida, co-pilot Alan Poindexter fired up two small engines for two minutes and 44 seconds to slow the shuttle to some 250 km per hour from some 27,000 kph, or 25 times the speed of sound.

Atlantis then began an hour-long descent toward Florida, over the Gulf of Mexico and past western Cuba before landing under clear blue skies.

“Atlantis rolling out on runway 15 wrapping up a 5.3 million mile mission to expand the global village of space,” said NASA television commentator Rob Navias.

The US military waited for the shuttle to land to safely destroy the satellite over the Pacific ocean, a shoot-down estimated to cost between $40 million and $60 million.

Armed with two specially modified interceptor missiles, the USS Lake Erie cruiser has been tasked to intercept the satellite over the Pacific and shoot it down into the ocean, officials said.

The USS Decatur, a guided missile destroyer, is carrying a third interceptor missile in case the first two attempts fail, defence officials said. Bad weather may delay the shoot-down, officials said.—AFP