The American space shuttle Atlantis is on its way back to earth from the international space station after a mission plagued by technical problems.

The shuttle's bringing the American astronaut Sunita Williams home from the station.

Andy Gallagher reports from Washington.

This has been one of NASA's most difficult missions in recent history.

The crew should have been in orbit for 11 days, but they were forced to stay an extra 48 hours to deal with a series of technical issues.

When the computers on board the space station crashed, there were fears the aging laboratory would have to be abandoned as one of their function is running the life support systems.

But NASA managers say the Atlantis has now been given the green light to return to earth.

 

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