U.S. shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The space shuttle Atlantis landed safely at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, endingan 11-day mission to resupply the International Space Station.

The space shuttle Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida November 27, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

According to NASA TV, the shuttle touched down at 9:44 a.m. EDT(1444 GMT) amid clear blue skies.

"Couldn't have picked a clearer day," commander Charles Hobaugh said. Mission Control congratulated him on a "picture perfect" landing.

Atlantis lifted off from the space center on Nov. 16. During its mission, astronauts conducted three spacewalks to install antennas, science experiments, and other tasks.

Atlantis' STS-129 mission is NASA's fifth and last shuttle mission for 2009. There are just five more shuttle launches scheduled before the planned September 2010 retirement of the space shuttle fleet.