CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Atlantis fired its braking rockets and left orbit on Wednesday to begin its hour-long glide back to Earth.

The shuttle and its six-member crew are scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:48 a.m. (1248 GMT), completing a 12-day construction and resupply mission to the International Space Station.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz, editing by Pascal Fletcher)