Shuttle crew inspects heat shields before return - Nasa

The crew of the shuttle Atlantis inspected the craft's heat shields before its descent to Earth at the end of its final voyage in space, Nasa said.

The inspection lasted several hours, the space agency said in a statement posted on its website.

Using a high-definition camera and laser at the end of a 15-metre-long robotic arm, the astronauts examined the leading edges of the shuttle's wings and the nose cones for signs of damage from micrometeorites or orbiting debris.

Temperatures rise to around 1,500 C on the wings' leading edges and nose cap during the shuttle's re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere.

"Managers and engineers in Mission Control will review the data to validate the heat shield's integrity," Nasa said.

The shuttle is scheduled to return to Earth today, landing at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida after a 12-day resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The shuttle uncoupled from the orbiting space laboratory on Sunday after successfully delivering tons of supplies.

The trip back to Earth caps the 25-year career of one of Nasa's iconic spacecraft, which has logged some 185 million kilometres.

Only two more shuttle launches remain - one in September for Discovery and the final blast-off for Endeavour in November - before the curtain falls on this era of human spaceflight.

The US will then have to rely on Russia to take astronauts to the station aboard three-seater Soyuz spacecraft until a new fleet of commercial "space taxis" is operational.