Endeavour ends 19-year career

Jun 1, 2011, 6:49 GMT

Washington - The space shuttle Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for the final time early Wednesday.

The moment marked the end not only of the craft's 16-day mission to the International Space Station, but also of Endeavour's 19-year career.

'What a great ending to this really wonderful mission,' said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations.

The craft began its service as NASA's shuttle programme emerged from the 1986 Challenger explosion, and it ends as the US space agency works to retire the ageing shuttle fleet to focus on commercial spaceflight and develop its own long-range deep space craft.

During its final mission, Endeavour delivered a high-tech particle detector to the space station that scientists hope could provide clues to the formation of the universe. The 2-billion-dollar particle physics detector, known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, is to allow scientists to measure cosmic rays in the search for dark matter and antimatter.

'They're getting great data from their instrument on board the space station. It couldn9t have gone any better,' Gerstenmaier added.

Endeavour's crew also conducted the final planned spacewalks by a shuttle crew.

The craft's final flight also attracted attention because its commander, Mark Kelly, is married to Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head sustained during an assassination attempt earlier this year.

After Challenger broke up during lift-off on January 28, 1986, killing all seven astronauts on board, the fate of the shuttle programme became unclear. The fleet was grounded for two-and-a-half years while the disaster was investigated.

Ultimately, NASA decided to replace Challenger with the construction of Endeavour.

The shuttle was built for 1.8 billion dollars using many extra parts left over from the building of past shuttles by Rockwell International in California. It was completed in 1990.

Endeavour was named by schoolchildren to honour the ship commanded by James Cook on an exploratory voyage to the South Pacific.

During its first mission in 1992, Endeavour rescued a stranded communications satellite. When initial efforts to grab the satellite were not successful, three astronauts captured it by hand during a spacewalk, a new motor was installed and it was launched back into orbit.

It also conducted the first servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993, salvaging what looked to be a failure in a mirror that left the telescope virtually worthless. The crew conducted five spacewalks during the 10-day mission, allowing the telescope to take clear photographs of distant space and to eventually provide astronomers with key information about the early universe.

In 1998, Endeavour delivered the first US component, the Unity Module, to the International Space Station. Its final mission brought the final large component to the station, now deemed complete after more than a decade of construction work in space.

After flying nearly 161 million kilometres and spending 294 days in space, Endeavour will be sent to the California Science Center museum in Los Angeles.

One more shuttle flight is planned to wrap up the 30-year shuttle programme as Atlantis is set to lift-off July 8.

After the shuttle stops flying, NASA hopes to contract with commercial spaceflight providers to conduct short missions to the space station. While those craft are being developed, astronauts are to rely on the Russian Soyuz craft.

The shuttle is the only craft large enough to bring bulky cargo such as major parts to the station, although Russian, European and Japanese vehicles can bring smaller payloads.