CAPE CANAVERAL — The space shuttle Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center with its double sonic boom Friday morning as the spacecraft traveled from west to east across the state, ending an 11-day mission that covered 171 orbits and over 4.4 million miles. The shuttle took off on Nov. 16 with six crew members and about 30,000 pounds of replacement parts for the international space station. Atlantis touched down at 9:44 a.m. with seven astronauts on board, picking up Nicole Stott at the space station.
She returned to Earth after 91 days in space will be the last astronaut to be transported to or from the space station by the space shuttle. This was the 31st mission for Atlantis and the fifth and final flight for 2009, according to the NASA Web site.
