VOA常速英语2008年-US Space Shuttle Atlantis Completes Mission

The U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis is back on earth after delivering a new laboratory to the International Space Station. VOA's Michael Bowman has details from Washington.

Sonic booms echoed over Florida as Atlantis returned to Cape¹ Canaveral, completing a voyage that saw the shuttle log more than eight million kilometers in orbit.

The 13-day mission included nine days at the International Space Station, ISS. The orbiter delivered the European Space Agency's multi-ton science laboratory, Columbus, a critical component² of the space station that NASA says marks the European Space Agency's entry as an active partner in the station's operations and utilization³.

The mission had been delayed for two months due to mechanical glitches⁴. NASA hopes it will be the first of multiple shuttle missions this year as it and other space agencies work to meet a 2010 target date for completing the space station. Launches have been less frequent since 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated⁵ as it re-entered earth's atmosphere, necessitating⁶ greater reliance on Russian vessels⁷ for supplying the space station and rotating its crew.

NASA faced a deadline for safe return of Atlantis, as the U.S. Navy prepares to shoot down a faulty satellite that has fallen out of its intended orbit and is in danger of scattering⁸ debris⁹ and toxic¹⁰ fuel.