Endeavour lands safely
Tuesday, 21 Aug 2007 19:59
Endeavour landed safely despite damage to its heat shield
Science In Focus
Click here to see how British small businesses are creating innovative, low carbon business ideas, on inthenews.co.uk. Full Story
The space shuttle Endeavour has landed in Florida after returning from the International Space Station (ISS) a day early.
Nasa officials ordered the early undocking of Endeavour as Hurricane Dean had threatened to disrupt Mission Control in Houston.
The shuttle landed at 12:32 EDT (17:32 BST) at Florida's Kennedy Space Centre amid favourable weather conditions.
The STS-188 mission astronauts will now undergo physical examinations and meet with their families.
While at the ISS the crew conducted four spacewalks, during which they installed a truss for solar panels and replaced a gyroscope which helped orientation of the space station.
Several tonnes of cargo was also transferred to the expedition 15 crew onboard the ISS.
Today's landing brought an end to the first mission in space for a teacher-astronaut.
Mission specialist Barbara Morgan was first selected by Nasa in 1985 as the back-up to teacher in space Christa McAuliffe, who died in the 1986 Challenger tragedy.
While in space Ms Morgan answered questions from students to further young people's interest in studying science.