Astronauts wrap up space station maintenance work

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts wrapped up their maintenance work inside the international space station Thursday and got ready to seal the complex back up for the next visitors.

One of four newly installed batteries exhibited irregular readings while being charged, but NASA said the trouble appeared to be a bad communication link and that the battery was fine. All 10 new smoke detectors were declared to be in good working order.

The only handyman job remaining before the closing of the hatches between the spacecraft, planned for early Friday, was the replacement of a broken fan.

Atlantis and its crew of seven are due to undock from the space station Friday evening after nearly a week of linked flight.

''Obviously I have a vested interest in what's going on up here, and I can't be happier with how things have gone,'' said astronaut Susan Helms, a future space station resident. ''The repair work has been very smooth and very quick, and we are ready to come back.''

One of the crew's last duties was to provide a third and final boost to the space station, using Atlantis' steering thrusters. Thursday night's maneuver was expected to put the station in an orbit more than 230 miles high, almost 30 miles higher than it was before the shuttle arrived.

The lift, conducted over three consecutive nights, should leave the space station in the perfect position to receive Russia's long-awaited service module in July.

The service module has been grounded for the past two years because of money and rocket problems in Russia. Until it is attached to the space station, no compartments can be added and no one can move in.

Once the service module is in place, Atlantis will follow, presumably in September, and haul up more supplies. If all goes well, the first permanent crew will swing open the doors in early November. And then more and more modules will arrive.

''It is quite a big home in space, and it's going to get bigger here real soon,'' said Atlantis commander James Halsell Jr.

Halsell and his crew dropped off 1 ton of gear for future residents: clothes, water, exercise equipment, sewing kits, wrenches, pliers and printer cartridges, among other things.

Atlantis is due back on Earth on Monday.