Atlantis set to undock Tuesday if tests go well

By DPA

Washington : Pending the results of a last minute test of Russian navigation computers, the US space shuttle Atlantis was preparing to undock early Tuesday morning from the space station and head back to Earth.


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NASA officials were optimistic Monday that a computer test that began about 1600 GMT would show the machines were working. Otherwise, another day could be added to the mission, a NASA spokesman told DPA.

Russian ground controllers planned to use the test to confirm that they could control the pitch and altitude of the International Space Station with the computers, which were malfunctioning last week and repaired with a jumper cable.

When Atlantis undocks, it will be carrying home Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, who has broken several records for women astronauts during more than six months on board the orbiting station, in and of itself a record.

She has also spent more time on space walks than any other woman astronaut. And she ran the first competitive marathon ever while in zero gravity.

US Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson will remain behind to replace her, joining the Russian station commander and cosmonaut who will continue their orbiting mission in the station. His mission is slated to last until October.

In the computer test, Russian flight controllers were to fire thrusters to manoeuvre the station.

"If the flight controllers and mission managers like what they see, space shuttle Atlantis … will undock from the International Space Station and begin the journey home on Tuesday," NASA said on its website.

With an early Tuesday departure, Atlantis would land Thursday about 1800 GMT in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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