Atlantis lands safely in California

HOUSTON, June 22 (UPI) -- The space shuttle Atlantis landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California Friday, capping a two-week mission to the International Space Station.

Atlantis touched down at 3:49 p.m. EDT, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. Controllers shifted the landing to California after deciding a return to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida wasn't going to be possible because of weather conditions.

STS-117 took off June 8 and arrived at the space station June 10 on a mission that saw part of its thermal blanket dislodged and a massive computer outage aboard the space station after astronauts installed a new solar array.

Mission specialists Patrick Forrester, John "Danny" Olivas, Jim Reilly and Steven Swanson performed four spacewalks.

Friday's return marked an end to the record set by mission specialist Suni Williams for the longest spaceflight by a woman. She began her mission in December aboard STS-116. When the shuttle landed Friday, Williams had amassed 194 days, 18 hours and 58 minutes in space.