By Prensa Latina
Washington : Uncoupling from the international space station, the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis started preparations for return to the earth Monday.
After uncoupling, Atlantis made another turn to take photos of the thermal layer, seeking alterations that might compromise security during its return through the atmosphere.
During this mission, European space lab Columbus coupled to the station, where three astronauts, including in biomedicine and material science, could work simultaneously.
Veteran astronaut Daniel Tani was replaced by Leopold Eyharts, engineer and medical researcher from the National Space Studies Center in France.
Eyharts main task will be putting Columbus to work at full capacity.
Atlantis is programmed to land on Wednesday at 9:06 local time (14:06 GMT) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.