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| | GEO World | | Atlantis lands in California after successful Hubble fix | Updated at: 0216 PST, Monday, May 25, 2009
 CALIFORNIA:The space shuttle Atlantis made a picture perfect landing in Calfornia Sunday, nearly two days behind schedule at the end of a successful mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Telescope.
Bypassing Florida because of uncertain weather conditions, the shuttle and its crew of seven landed at this desert air base 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Los Angeles after 12 days, 21 hours and 37 minutes in flight.
Atlantis blasted off on May 11 with a crew of seven astronauts on what was scheduled to be an 11-day mission to repair the Hubble space telescope and extend its range and life for another five years.
It circled the Earth 197 times before finally making the flawless descent to Edwards, deploying a parachute to break its momentum at 8:40 am local time (1540 GMT).
Bad weather and crosswinds pushed back Florida landing tries for three days before NASA finally opted for the California landing. The craft had enough fuel and supplies to be aloft until Monday at the latest.
A Florida landing would have saved NASA the two million dollars it will cost to transport the shuttle from California to Cape Canaveral on the back of a Boeing 747.
With storms not too far from the Florida space center, the Houston, Texas control center asked the seven astronauts to take another whirl around Earth, hoping that weather conditions would improve.
But as the weather failed to clear enough for a Florida green-light, the California landing was set. |  |
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