24-05-09 Shuttle Atlantis glides to smooth California landing

Delayed two days by stormy Florida weather,the shuttle Atlantis glided to a smooth California landing Sunday,closing out a successful mission to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope with a picture-perfect Mojave Desert touchdown.With commander Scott Altman and pilot Gregory C. Johnson at the controls,Atlantis crossed the coast of California northwest of Los Angeles on a steep descent to Edwards Air Force Base,rattling the countryside with twin sonic booms.Taking over manual control at an altitude of about 50,000 feet,Altman guided the shuttle through a sweeping 200-degree left-overhead turn to line up on runway 22 at the fabled Air Force test center.As Altman flared the shuttle's descent and pulled its nose up slightly on final approach,Johnson lowered the landing gear and Atlantis settled to a smooth touchdown at 11:39:05 a.m. EDT to close out NASA's final mission to Hubble."Houston,Atlantis,wheels stopped,Edwards,22!" Altman radioed mission control at the Johnson Space Center as Atlantis rolled to a halt. "Welcome home,Atlantis," astronaut Gregory H. Johnson replied from Houston."Congratulations on a very successful mission,giving Hubble a new set of eyes that will continue to expand our knowledge of the universe." "Thank you,Houston,it was a thrill from start to finish," Altman said."We've had a great ride.It took a whole team across the country to pull it off.Our hats are off to you all.Thank you so much." Mission duration was 12 days 21 hours 37 minutes and nine seconds for a flight covering 5.2 million miles and 197 complete orbits since blastoff May 11 from Florida's Kennedy Space Center