Shuttle Atlantis lands in Florida

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The shuttle Atlantis landed Friday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center after three space walks and more than six days at the International Space Station.

The shuttle and its seven astronauts landed under clear skies with five more shuttle missions ahead before the fleet's scheduled retirement next year.

The mission just completed equipped the space station with nearly 30,000 pounds of parts, including pump modules, gas tanks, two gyroscopes and components for the space station's robotic arm.

The Atlantis astronauts also prepared power and airway connections on the space station for the arrival of the final U.S. space station module, Tranquility, scheduled for delivery on a shuttle mission in February, NASA officials said.

Atlantis returned home with a broken piece of the space station's water-recycling unit, which converts the astronauts' urine into drinking water. The part is to be repaired and returned on another shuttle flight.