Shuttle's entry ground track

After firing braking rockets at 4:48 a.m. EDT, the shuttle Atlantis will drop from orbit and take a blistering ride through the atmosphere on the way to landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:56 a.m. EDT. The shuttle's entry ground track takes the vehicle over the Pacific Ocean just west of the Galapagos Islands, across Central America and just east of the Yucatan Peninsula, then the shuttle will skirt the western tip of Cuba and arrive over Florida.

These maps show the shuttle's ground track on Orbit 200, the first of two opportunities to land at KSC on Thursday morning.

Credit: NASA

Space models