The crew of space shuttle Atlantis is making the latest preparations for their return home and the end of the STS-122 mission. On Monday, after undocking the ISS, the astronauts conducted an inspection of Atlantis, looking possible micrometeorite damage to the shuttle's wing and nose that might have occurred while the shuttle was docked to the space station.

NASA was finishing up its analysis of the latest laser data and expected to let the astronauts know later Tuesday if they are cleared for landing.

The astronauts will spend their day testing the thrusters that will be used to position the orbiter for re-entry and the control surfaces for its flight through the atmosphere.

They also will set up the recumbent seat for Mission Specialist Daniel Tani, who joined the crew of Atlantis on the International Space Station.

Tani, who served as Expedition 16 flight engineer for almost four months, was replaced on the station crew by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Leopold Eyharts.

The shuttle has several landing opportunities. If the weather should be unfavourable for the first orbit, the shuttle makes another orbit to take the next landing opportunity.

The first two landing opportunities are at the Kennedy Space Center at 09:07 EST/15:07 CET or later at 10:42 EST/16:42 CET.

One orbit takes about 90 minutes, so with each extra orbit needed because of adverse weather, the landing time gets later. After the first two orbits on Wednesday a landing is no longer possible at KSC - the shuttle would then have to land at Edwards Airforce Base in California - or shuttle managers would have to decide to wait until Thursday.

The first landing opportunity at Edwards Airforce base is available at 12:12 EST/18:12 CET, while the second is scheduled for 13:47 EST/19:47 CET.

The weather is looking good for landing Wednesday at KSC. Forecasts and models are consistent. A front is predicted to go through central Florida and clear out any weather in Florida. Weather at California looks pretty favorable as well.

The STS-122 mission was launched on February 7, after it was delayed in December last year due to the problems with an ECO sensor.

Atlantis arrived arrived at the station February 9 , delivering ESA’s Columbus laboratory to the station. The crews installed Columbus February 11 and conducted three spacewalks to prepare Columbus for its scientific work. They also replaced an expended nitrogen tank on the station’s P1 truss.