Space Shuttle Endeavour Glides Home After Successful Mission

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July 31, 2009

Candrea Thomas
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 
321-867-2468
candrea.k.thomas@nasa.gov 

John Yembrick 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1100 
john.yembrick-1@nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 09-179

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR GLIDES HOME AFTER SUCCESSFUL MISSION

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven 
astronauts ended a 16-day journey of more than 6.5 million miles with 
a 10:48 a.m. EDT landing Friday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in 
Florida. During the flight, Endeavour delivered the final piece of 
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and a new 
crew member to the International Space Station. 

Endeavour's 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.

Mark Polansky commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Doug Hurley 
and Mission Specialists Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Dave 
Wolf, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette and Tim Kopra. 
Kopra remained aboard the station, replacing Flight Engineer and 
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who returned to Earth on Endeavour 
after more than four months on the station. 

When Endeavour's seven astronauts joined the six resident Expedition 
20 crew members aboard the space station, a record number of 13 
people were aboard the orbiting laboratory. All five partner agencies 
were represented. 

A welcome ceremony for the crew's return to Houston will be held at 
Ellington Field's NASA Hangar 990 at 5 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 1. 
The public is invited to attend. The crew's return will be broadcast 
on NASA Television's video file Monday.

With Endeavor and its crew safely home, the stage is set for the 
launch of STS-128, which is targeted for Aug. 23. Discovery's 13-day 
flight will deliver a new crew member and 33,000 pounds of equipment 
to the station. The equipment includes science and storage racks, a 
freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and the 
COLBERT treadmill. 

For more about the STS-127 mission and the upcoming STS-128 flight, 
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle 

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov  

	
-end-



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