NASA Crew Prepares Atlantis For Space Shuttle Landing

Crew aboard the Atlantis have been preparing for their flight home tomorrow to bring an end to the STS-125 mission of repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. Among their preparations is a test of the thrusters that will be used to position the orbiter for re-entry.

After the testing of the thrusters have been completed, the crew will speak again with members of the media to discuss their mission and trip home. The crew finished five very successful spacewalks during their mission to repair the Hubble Telescope, one of the most watched missions "in sometime".

Around 6:29AM this morning the crew had already completed some of their initial tests of the Reaction Control System that will help control Atlantis' altitude and speed during the deorbit burn. They also tested the shuttle aerosurfaces and flight controls as well.

The astronauts also checked out the heat shield issues that were found earlier in the week and those are said to be a non-issue.

The crew has two windows of opportunity to land the shuttle on Friday. The first shuttle landing time, which was changed slightly, is 10:00:31 AM EDT at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility and the other window is at 11:39AM, should they need it.