With Atlantis being cleared for return to earth after repair of its thermal shield, Indian- American astronaut Sunita Williams on Sunday said the problems faced by the US space shuttle showed that spaceflight is “still dangerous”.

“We take spaceflight for granted and it’s still pretty dangerous,” Williams, who set to return to Earth on Thursday after setting a record for the longest uninterrupted space flight by a woman, said at a press conference from space.

Atlantis was on Saturday given clearance to return to earth next week, as the shuttle’s heat shield, which suffered a tear during lift off on Friday, was repaired by Mission Specialist Danny Olivas.

Adding to NASA’s concerns was the failure of computers that control the space station’s ability to orient itself and produce oxygen. But NASA officials said the crew was never in danger of running out of oxygen, power or essentials.

“We are living in an environment that is not really friendly for humans. (The space station is) not just a tourist vacation place. It’s a serious place and we are doing serious business and serious science up here,” said 41-year-old Williams, who began her space journey on December 10.

NASA sensitive
NASA has been sensitive about the space shuttle’s heat shield ever since the Columbia accident killed seven astronauts, including India-born Kalpana Chawla, in 2003.

A piece of insulating foam from the shuttle’s external tank came loose during launch, striking Columbia’s wing and allowing fiery gases to penetrate it during re-entry. On being congratulated on her record by the Mission Control, Williams said: “It’s just that I’m in the right place at the right time. It’s just an honour to be up here.

“Even when the station has little problems, it’s just a beautiful, wonderful place to live,” she said.

Asked by reporters how she celebrated, Williams said she was too busy. “I think I had a couple of wrenches in my hand and that’s pretty much how I celebrated.”

Williams will be on board Atlantis which is set to leave the International Space Station on Tuesday and land at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday, NASA said, although mission managers may delay the departure by a day to buy more time for engineers to figure out why the computer system on the Russian side of the station crashed. On Saturday, Russian flight controllers and the station crew were able to power-up two lanes of the Russian central computer and two lanes of the terminal computer by using a jumper cable to bypass a faulty secondary power switch.