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Finally the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis finished its 11-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The shuttle landed at the Kennedy Space Center at about 1444 GMT in Florida.

During the mission the crew supplied the ISS with about 14,000kg (30,000lbs) of spare particles.

It is planned that 5 more flights will be sent before the fleet’s retirement in 2010.

The crew took pump modules, gas tanks, two control moment gyroscopes and components for the space station’s robotic arm.

Nasa wants to supply the station with all the necessary equipments before the three shuttles retire. Moreover there is no spacecrafts that is able to keep such large pieces into orbit.

Also the astronauts arranged power, cooling and airway connections on the ISS for the arrival of the final US space station module, Tranquility that will be launched in February.

One should note that Atlantis came back with a broken piece of the station’s water-recycling unit. The unit transforms the astronauts’ urine into the water that astronauts drink.

Nicole Stott who lived at the space station during three months returned to Earth on Atlantis

Moreover, the rotation of an ISS crew-member will be considered as the last time.

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