Endeavour Lands Safely (Video)

By Nancy Atkinson - July 31, 2009 at 9:37 AM UTC | Missions

Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven astronauts ended their 16-day mission by landing safely at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If you missed seeing it live, watch the picture-perfect landing here. Good weather allowed the crew to come home on the first landing opportunity, after their orbital journey of more than 6.5 million miles. Endeavour touched down at 10:48 a.m. EDT, the 71st shuttle landing at KSC. It was the 23rd flight for Endeavour, the 127th space shuttle mission and 29th shuttle flight to the International Space Station.

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, Tim Kopra. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata (

and his long duration underwear

) returned home after four and a half months on board the ISS.

At this point only six (maybe seven) space shuttle flights are left on the manifest. The big question this week during the Augustine Commission hearings was if the shuttle missions would be extended in any way to eliminate the gap between the shuttles and whatever spacecraft comes next for human spaceflight. No answers yet, but stay tuned.

Next up is STS-128, targeted for an Aug. 25 launch. Space shuttle Discovery's will go to the ISS to bring 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.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com