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Atlantis ready to return to Earth

FLORIDA: Astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis are preparing to return to Earth after an ambitious and risky mission to re-fit the Hubble telescope.There are two chances to land on Friday: one at 1500 BST (1000 EDT) and a second at 1639 BST (1139 EDT). If bad weather scuppers either of those opportunities, the shuttle will try to land on Saturday in Florida or at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The mission was intended to give a new lease of life to Hubble. The orbiting observatory is regarded as one of the most important scientific tools ever built. The fifth and final mission to service Hubble has been hailed as a great success. Over five spacewalks, astronauts installed new instruments and thermal blankets, repaired two existing instruments, replaced gyroscopes and batteries. The only disappointment was the failure to restore the high-resolution channel (one of three) on Hubble's main camera - the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Cloudy skies and stormy weather could yet pose a problem for Friday's landing attempts, Nasa said.

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