综合一区欧美国产,99国产麻豆免费精品,九九精品黄色录像,亚洲激情青青草,久久亚洲熟妇熟,中文字幕av在线播放,国产一区二区卡,九九久久国产精品,久久精品视频免费

Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Space shuttle returns home to Florida

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-31 23:14

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: Space shuttle Endeavour and seven astronauts, including the first Japanese to live on the International Space Station, landed in Florida on Friday, capping a 16-day mission to complete Japan's orbital laboratory.

The shuttle touched down at the Kennedy Space Center at 10:48 am EDT (1448 GMT), a few miles from where it blasted off on July 15 after a month of launch delays.

Related readings:  On sixth try, space shuttle lifts off  NASA postpones launch of space shuttle  Space shuttle finishes mission  NASA releases restored Apollo 11 moonwalk video  Space shuttle Atlantis back home in Florida

During an 11-day stay at the station, Endeavour's crew installed the final segment of Japan's $2.4 billion Kibo laboratory, a platform for telescopes and other science experiments.

They also delivered spare parts and replaced batteries to keep the solar-powered space station running during nighttime passes around Earth.

NASA is stocking the $100 billion station, a project of 16 nations, in preparation for the shuttle fleet's retirement next year after seven more missions.

Using a Japanese-built robot arm for the first time, astronauts placed three devices on the new platform: an X-ray telescope, a monitor to measure electromagnetic fields around the station and a communications antenna for a Japanese satellite network.

One of the Endeavour astronauts, rookie Timothy Kopra, remained behind on the space station, taking over the flight engineer's post previously held by Japan's Koichi Wakata, who returned home aboard the shuttle after 4 1/2 months in orbit.