Atlantis touched down at 5:57 a.m. EDT, this morning, ending 30 years of U.S. Space Shuttle Operations. Aboard her, for 200 orbits of Earth, was the payload containing SSEP experiments from student teams across the nation. The video below provides Atlantis’ approach to Kennedy Space Center and landing.
We received confirmation this morning from the Space Life Sciences Lab (SLSL) at Kennedy Space Center that NASA turned over the SSEP payload to ITA at approximately 10:00 am EDT. We also received word that the Lab is providing a LIVE Video feed of the harvesting process for the SSEP experiments. We have therefore quickly set up a page at the SSEP Community Network Hubsite dedicated to the harvesting process. Note there is no audio feed.
Harvesting is to take place over the 24-30 hour period commencing on the receipt of the payload from NASA.
NCESSE’s Dr. Harri Vanhala is with the harvesting team at the SLSL and will provide information on milestone events throughout the day, and we’ll add that information to the Live video page.
Finally, every community taking part in SSEP on STS-135 is participating in history. And we have Harri on the ground at the SLSL. You might want to contact your media outlets to see if they would like to talk to Harri and get firsthand impressions of what is happening. He is available throughout the day. If someone from your community would like to set up an interview with Harri, please Contact NCESSE as soon as possible.
Jump to: Live Video: Harvesting of Experiment Samples page.
