Jul 31, 2009, 18:37 GMT
Washington - The space shuttle Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Friday carrying a seven-member crew of US, Canadian and Japanese astronauts.
Space shuttle Endeavour approaches runway 15 before landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Shuttle Landing Facility, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, 31 July 2009. Endeavour completed a sixteen day mission to the International Space Station where it delivered the last section of the KIBO Experiment Module. The mission STS-127 also had five space walks associated with the mission. EPA/JUSTIN DERNIER
The landing at 1448 GMT marked the end of the 17-day mission that saw the completion of the Japanese laboratory on the International Space Station. There were no problems during the landing and the shuttle appeared to be in good condition, NASA officials said later.
The Endeavour brought an external platform to the station that was installed on the Japanese Kibo laboratory during the first of the mission's five spacewalks. The porch will expose experiments to the extremities of space.
Japanese space agency Jaxa President Keiji Tachikawa told reporters the completion of Kibo was 'very important in our country' and would enable the completion of scientific research.
During Endeavour's mission, astronauts used robotic arms to place an X-ray camera and a device to study cosmic dust on the porch, alongside a communication device to send data between the space station and ground crews in Japan. A spacewalk also saw the installation of video cameras on Kibo's porch.
The landing also marked the return of Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata to Earth after spending four months as a long-term ISS crew member. US astronaut Tim Kopra has replaced Wakata on the six-member ISS permanent crew.
Wakata was welcomed back to Earth with a much-welcomed meal of sushi after months of prepackaged space food.
US and Japanese space flight officials lauded his role as a member of the first six-member ISS crew, especially his skill in operating the robotic arm. Tachikawa said he had spoken with Wakata, who seemed healthy and in good spirits.
'He is still young, so maybe he will have a chance to do another space station long stay,' Tachikawa said. 'If possible he would like to go to the moon I suppose.'
The mission also saw several spacewalks to replace batteries on one of the station's solar panels.
The space shuttle Discovery is due to travel to the International Space Station in late August as NASA attempts to complete the orbiting laboratory before the space shuttle programme ends next year. But NASA has not yet set a firm launch date for Discovery. The mission is dependent in part on the schedule for the first unmanned Japanese cargo carrier to the station, which is due to launch in September.
With the landing, only seven shuttle missions remain before NASA retires its flights to the ISS by the end of 2010. It is developing a new moon-bound spacecraft called Orion which could be ready by 2015 for trial flights. In the meantime, US astronauts will have to rely on Russia's Soyuz craft to travel to and from the ISS.
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