Commander Charles Hobaugh glided the space shuttle Atlantis to a smooth landing on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Friday - the tire-smoke ‘picture perfect’ touchdown taking place at 9:44:23 a. m. EST.

The landing of the Atlantis marks the successful completion of its 11-day space station mission, which included the delivery of almost 15 tons of equipment and spare parts to the International Space Station, to see it through unwarranted failures after the fleet’s retirement next year.

The crew aboard the Atlantis, along with its commander Colonel Hobaugh, included Captain Barry Wilmore; Leland Melvin; Michael Foreman; Dr. Robert Satcher; Lt. Col. Randolph J. Bresnik; and flight engineer, Nicole Stott who returned to the Earth after 91 days in space.

Scott, who was launched aboard the shuttle Discovery on August 28, made the return trip home resting on her back in a recumbent seat on the lower deck of the Atlantis, to facilitate her re- adjustment to gravity.

Upon landing, the flight surgeons helped Scott off the orbiter, escorting her to crew quarters for medical examination, and a reunion with her husband and 7-year-old son.

While Hobaugh, Scott, Wilmore, Melvin, Foreman, and Satcher would fly back to Houston early Saturday, Bresnik flew home immediately aboard a NASA training jet to meet his new-born daughter for the first time. Bresnik’s wife Rebecca gave birth to the baby girl, the couple’s second child, last Saturday.