Shuttle back after record-setting mission
Mission successful: The space shuttle Endeavour sits on the runway after landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, last Wednesday. The Endeavour ended its 16-day mission to the International Space Station. Picture: Reuters
Friday, March 28, 2008
SPACE shuttle Endeavour and its crew are home after carrying Japan's maiden space laboratory and a Canadian repair robot to the International Space Station on a record-setting mission.
Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center at 8.39pm last Wednesday after a 16-day mission that included a record 12-day docking at the ISS and five spacewalks — the most ever embarked upon in a single mission.
The shuttle and its seven astronauts touched down 90 minutes later than scheduled after an initial landing was postponed due to poor weather.
It was the second nighttime landing since September 2006 and the 29th since the first shuttle launch in 1981.
"Welcome Endeavour," Nasa's Jim Dutton at mission control told the shuttle crew as they glided to a stop.
"Okairinasai Takao. Bienvenue Leo," Dutton said in Japanese and French, welcoming back to Earth Japanese astronaut Takao Doi and the European Space Agency's French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, back from a 50-day stint on the ISS.
"Congratulations to the team for the mission," Dutton said, as Endeavour's complex mission, launched on March 11, went ahead practically without a hitch.
Its main task was to install the first part of the Japanese Kibo lab, a micro-gravity research facility that will be the station's largest module when completed in March 2009.
With its installation, Japan gains a foothold on the ISS alongside the United States, Russia and Europe, whose laboratory Columbus was delivered to the station in February.
"We are quite honoured that Doi contributed to the construction of the space station," Kaoru Mamiya, vice president of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, said after Endeavour landed.
"It's the first step for our Kibo construction, and we hope that next time, the main module will be added to the station."
Kibo will be the largest by far of the four research modules on board the station and represents the most important Japanese input to the project, to which Japan has contributed a total of US$10 billion.
Nasa managers said the shuttle crew was in excellent shape and elated.AFP
Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center at 8.39pm last Wednesday after a 16-day mission that included a record 12-day docking at the ISS and five spacewalks — the most ever embarked upon in a single mission.
The shuttle and its seven astronauts touched down 90 minutes later than scheduled after an initial landing was postponed due to poor weather.
It was the second nighttime landing since September 2006 and the 29th since the first shuttle launch in 1981.
"Welcome Endeavour," Nasa's Jim Dutton at mission control told the shuttle crew as they glided to a stop.
"Okairinasai Takao. Bienvenue Leo," Dutton said in Japanese and French, welcoming back to Earth Japanese astronaut Takao Doi and the European Space Agency's French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, back from a 50-day stint on the ISS.
"Congratulations to the team for the mission," Dutton said, as Endeavour's complex mission, launched on March 11, went ahead practically without a hitch.
Its main task was to install the first part of the Japanese Kibo lab, a micro-gravity research facility that will be the station's largest module when completed in March 2009.
With its installation, Japan gains a foothold on the ISS alongside the United States, Russia and Europe, whose laboratory Columbus was delivered to the station in February.
"We are quite honoured that Doi contributed to the construction of the space station," Kaoru Mamiya, vice president of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, said after Endeavour landed.
"It's the first step for our Kibo construction, and we hope that next time, the main module will be added to the station."
Kibo will be the largest by far of the four research modules on board the station and represents the most important Japanese input to the project, to which Japan has contributed a total of US$10 billion.
Nasa managers said the shuttle crew was in excellent shape and elated.AFP
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