Articles | Endeavour touches down

Endeavour touches down

Published: Monday, 1 December 2008, 7:30AM

The space shuttle Endeavour has glided to a smooth landing in California, returning to Earth from a mission to expand and renovate the International Space Station.

NASA rerouted Endeavour and its seven astronauts to California after thunderstorms and high winds prevented them from landing at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Alan Poindexter of Mission Control in Houston had radioed to Endeavour commander Chris Ferguson: "Currently, the forecast is no-go."

The shuttle has returned from a marathon home improvement mission at the space station.

The crew delivered and installed a water recycling system that will enable NASA to add three more astronauts to the permanent live-aboard crew, and repaired the station's power system.