(CNN) -- Space shuttle Atlantis is set to land Wednesday morning, ending the orbiter's stellar 25-year career.The shuttle, fresh off a trip to the international space station, is expected to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:48 a.m. ET, weather permitting. Weather near the landing site was forecast as favorable with a slight chance of showers.
Atlantis, which lifted off Friday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center, made its maiden voyage in 1985.
During its career, Atlantis carried into orbit the Magellan spacecraft, which went on to map 98 percent of the planet Venus. It also sent the Galileo spacecraft on its way to collect data about Jupiter and its moons for eight years.
NASA has plans for two other missions before the space shuttle program ends -- one for Discovery in September and the other for Endeavour in November.
President Obama has called for a new strategy that ends current programs while funding new initiatives intended to propel humankind farther into the solar system.
In an April speech, Obama outlined his proposal to pump an additional $6 billion into NASA's budget over the next five years while halting a project to resume lunar missions.
