Atlantis glides safely back to Earth

The US space shuttle Atlantis returned safely to its Florida home yesterday, capping a successful mission to resume International Space Station construction three-and-a-half years after the 2003 Columbia disaster.

After 12 days in space, including six at the half-built $100 billion space station, Atlantis returned to Earth's atmosphere, soaring through predawn skies over the Pacific Ocean, Yucatan Peninsula and Gulf of Mexico before reaching Florida's west coast.

Commander Brent Jett circled Atlantis high over the Kennedy Space Centre, then ended its nearly eight-million-km voyage with a smooth touchdown on a 4.8-km long runway at 6.21 a.m. (1021 GMT) Double sonic booms rang out over central Florida as the shuttle slipped below the speed of sound for the first time since it blasted off on September 9 after two weeks of delays.

The mission marked Nasa's re-entry into the space-station construction business - a task put on hold for nearly four years for safety upgrades after Columbia exploded - and boosted confidence the massive construction project can be completed by 2010, when the shuttle fleet is to be retired.

"The space station's half built. We have half to go," Nasa administrator Michael Griffin said. "When we're all done it will weigh nearly a million pounds, for humanity's first really long-term outpost in space. We're halfway there but I think we're going to make it."

Jett and his five crewmates - pilot Chris Ferguson, flight engineer Dan Burbank, Canada's Steve MacLean, Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper - delivered and installed a $372 million solar power system during a complex series of robotic manoeuvers and three spacewalks.

Nasa needs to fly at least 14 more station assembly missions to finish the space station. The shuttle is the only spacecraft able to carry the station's components.