The new routine is to check damages to the heat shield. Atlantis has spearated from the ISS and is coming home.
Cape Canaveral, Florida - Atlantis' astronauts gave the ship's wings and nose one last inspection on Monday with a remotely operated TV camera and laser, and Nasa said there appeared to be no damage that would prevent the shuttle from coming home.It all looks well.
Atlantis and its six crew members are set to touch down early on Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Centre after 11 days in space delivering a major addition to the International Space Station and conducting three spacewalks to install it.
The astronauts attached a 15-metre boom to the shuttle's robotic arm to inspect for any damage. The boom has a TV camera and a laser imagery system attached to its end. An identical survey was conducted on Day 2 of the mission.
Monday's inspection was conducted while the shuttle was about 80 kilometres from the space station.
If the astronauts had found the type of damage that could cause a deadly accident, the shuttle would have been able to return to the station. However, the space station had its own problems on Monday.
Space station crew members pulled an alarm and donned protective gear after smelling a foul odour that turned out to be burning rubber and a harmful chemical leaking from an oxygen system.
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