SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Atlantis Set to Land on Thursday*

Atlantis will glide in for landing, guided by Commander Brent Jett and Pilot Chris Ferguson, as the ship makes its steep descent from space into the pre-dawn darkness. Pulled back to Earth by gravity alone, Atlantis' approach to the coastal Florida runway is at a prescribed steep, nose-down dive. The spacecraft flares to a shallow nose-up, tail-down position for landing -- similar to a commercial jet aircraft -- about a mile before reaching the Shuttle Landing Facility's runway. The orbiter's main landing gear touches down at a speed of about 215 mph, followed seconds later by nose gear touchdown. As the drag chute deploys, the orbiter coasts to a stop after rolling over a mile down the runway.

The orbiter landing convoy is then sent to "safe" the vehicle before the six crew member take their first steps back on Earth as they exit Atlantis through the Crew Hatch Access Vehicle. After receiving a quick check by doctors, the entire crew can do a walk-around visual inspection of the vehicle.

The return of the six-member crew will conclude the successful mission to resume construction of the International Space Station by installing the P3/P4 integrated truss and solar arrays.