It's smooth sailing for NASA's Atlantis
It's smooth sailing for NASA's Atlantis
Atlantis astronauts have been very productive with just one more item to go from their space walk to-do list.

Houston: Space shuttle Atlantis astronauts have been so productive that they have only one more item to complete from their original space walk to-do list.

The pair who did the first spacewalk on Tuesday, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Joe Tanner, embarked on the third and final excursion at 0600 EDT, after minor glitches caused a 45-minute delay.

"Oh, that's a beautiful view," Piper said as she floated out of the spacecraft.

The astronauts have been working on installing a new addition to the space station, the first since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

"You just can't imagine a flight going as well as this one has gone," said lead space station flight director John McCullough.

"I couldn't ask for a better start — a re-start — to assembly," McCullough added.

The $372 million addition consists of two solar panel wings that will eventually provide a quarter of the space station's power when it's completed by 2010.

They won't generate any electricity, though, until the next space mission — slated for December — when the power system is rewired.

The crew lands back on Earth on Wednesday, after 11 days in the cosmos.

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