CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis fired their ship's braking rockets on Friday to leave orbit and begin the return to Earth after an 11-day mission to deliver spare parts to the International Space Station.

Atlantis was scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:44 a.m. EST.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz, editing by Jim Loney)