Cape Canaveral: Endeavour and its six astronauts returned safely to Earth on Sunday, making a rare nighttime landing to end a mission that resulted in the virtual completion of the International Space Station.
The shuttle's on-time arrival took some by surprise. All day, forecasters said rain and clouds probably would scuttle any touchdown attempts. However, the rain stayed away and the sky cleared just in time.
Mission Control waited until the last possible minute before giving commander George Zamka the go-ahead to head home.
"It's great to be home. It was a great adventure," Zamka said after the shuttle rolled to a stop.
During their mission, which spanned two weeks and 5.7 million miles, the astronauts delivered and installed a new space station room, Tranquility, and a big bay window with sweeping views of the Earth.
Upon touchdown, Mission Control immediately relayed congratulations to Zamka and his crew for installing Tranquility and opening up those new "windows to the world."
This was the 23rd space shuttle landing in darkness, out of 130 flights. The last time was in 2008, by Endeavour as well.
Tranquility already is serving as a base for life-support equipment, as well as a gym and restroom. It also holds the seven-windowed dome, quite possibly the most anticipated addition ever made to a spacecraft.
