page_title: STS-115
section_title: 21 September (Flight day 13 and landing)
hierarchical_section_title: STS-115 / Mission timeline / 21 September (Flight day 13 and landing)
caption_attribution_description: PHOTO NO: KSC-06PD-2192 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. – The drag chute glows in the lights illuminating Atlantis as it touches down on Runway 33 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, concluding mission STS-115. Aboard are Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Christopher Ferguson, and Mission Specialists Joseph Tanner, David Burbank, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steven MacLean, who represents the Canadian Space Agency. During the mission, Tanner, McLean, Burbank and Piper completed three spacewalks to attach the P3/P4 integrated truss structure to the International Space Station. Main gear touchdown was at 6:21:30 a.m. EDT. Nose gear touchdown was at 6:21:36 a.m. and wheel stop was at 6:22:16 a.m. At touchdown -- nominally about 2,500 ft. beyond the runway threshold -- the orbiter is traveling at a speed ranging from 213 to 226 mph. Atlantis traveled 4.9 million miles, landing on orbit 187. Mission elapsed time was 11 days, 19 hours, six minutes. This is the 15th night landing at KSC and the 23rd night landing overall. Photo credit: NASA/Mike Kerley
context_page_description: STS-115 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the first assembly mission to the ISS after the Columbia disaster, following the two successful Return to Flight missions, STS-114 and STS-121. STS-115 launched from LC-39B at the Kennedy Space Center on 9 September 2006 at 11:14:55 EDT.
  The mission is also referred to as ISS-12A by the ISS program. The mission delivered the second port-side truss segment, a pair of solar arrays, and batteries. A total of three spacewalks were performed, during which the crew connected the systems on the installed trusses, prepared them for deployment, and did other maintenance work on the station.
  STS-115 was originally scheduled to launch in April 2003. The Columbia accident in February 2003 pushed the date back to 27 August 2006, which was again moved back for various reasons, including a threat from Tropical Storm Ernesto and the strongest lightning strike to ever hit an occupied shuttle launchpad.
context_section_description: Flight day 13 was the last day of the mission, with the final re-entry procedures and landing taking place during the morning, and numerous debriefs and conferences in the afternoon. The landing process began hours before the actual landing at Kennedy Space Center. The process began with the APU prestart at 04:37 EDT, followed by the closing of the payload bay doors and sealing of the Orbiter at 04:45 EDT. Atlantis' crew received the final "Go" for the prime re-entry window from Mission Control in Houston at 04:52 EDT. The crew then started the deorbit reorientation of the shuttle so that its engines faced in its direction of travel, meaning that by firing the engines for the deorbit burn Atlantis would slow down and begin its descent out of orbit.
  The de-orbit burn was initiated at 05:15 EDT, lasting 2 minutes 40 seconds with two engines burning well throughout. The astronauts aboard the Orbiter were informed at 05:17 EDT that their burn was perfect, with no alterations required as Atlantis began her drop through the atmosphere above the Indian Ocean.
  Following the deorbit burn, the crew of Atlantis began dumping excess propellant overboard, a process lasting 3 minutes, concluding at 05:26 EDT, with the Orbiter 55 minutes away from landing. Twenty-five minutes later, at 05:51 EDT, Atlantis began feeling the effects of the atmosphere at an altitude of approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) (80 mi), and soon after began its "roll reversal banking" in order to bleed off most of the 27,000 kilometres (17,000 mi)/h (17,000 mph) she was traveling at, ready for landing at less than 760 kilometres (470 mi)/h (470 mph). The ISS was positioned in such a way as to be above the reentry path taken by Atlantis, so the astronauts were able to observe the entire maneuver from above.
  At 06:08 EDT, the downlink from the Shuttle was acquired by the MILA tracking station on Merritt Island, Florida, with GPS data beginning to be accepted by the Orbiter three minutes later. Ten minutes following the first detection of Atlantis, two sonic booms were heard at Kennedy Space Center as the Orbiter dropped below the sound barrier three minutes prior to touchdown. Commander Jett took control of Atlantis a minute later, and, with Kennedy Space Center Runway 33 in sight, began bringing his ship in for a landing.
  Atlantis' main gear touched down at 06:21:30 EDT on Runway 33 at the Space Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, with the nose gear following 6 seconds later at 06:21:36 EDT, and, 8 million kilometers (5 million miles) after launch, the Orbiter's wheels came to a stop at 06:22:16 EDT, bringing mission STS-115 to an end.
  The morning's landing was considered a night landing as it took place about 48 minutes before sunrise, and as such was the 21st night landing for the Space Shuttle Program. It was the 63rd landing at Kennedy Space Center, as well as the 27th mission for Atlantis.
caption: The drag chute glows in the lights illuminating Atlantis as it touches down on Runway 33.
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