Article Posted on : - Aug 03, 2009

Space shuttle Endeavour landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday. -- Image credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL (BNS): After successfully completing its 16-day journey to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA’s Endeavour space shuttle has landed home safely along with its seven member crew.

The shuttle, after traveling over 6.5 million miles, touched ground at 10:48 a.m. EDT (14.48 GMT) on Friday at the Kennedy Space Centre here in Florida, the US space agency said.

The spacecraft delivered the final piece of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and a new crew member to the ISS.

The mission included five spacewalks and installation of two platforms outside the Japanese module. One platform remained on the station and serves as a type of porch for experiments that require direct exposure to space. The other was an experiment storage pallet that returned aboard the shuttle.

During the mission, Kibo's robotic arm transferred three experiments from the palette to the platform. The station now is 83 percent complete and has a mass of more than 685,000 pounds, NASA said.

The next launch lined up by the space agency is that of Discovery’s STS-128 mission, scheduled for August 25. The 13-day flight will deliver a new crew member and 33,000 pounds of equipment to the ISS.