Endeavour concludes ISS mission

(March 27, 2008) — Space shuttle Endeavour returned to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:39 p.m. EDT Wednesday with a bang. Two bangs actually. Or more exact, twin sonic booms that successfully concluded the 6.6-million mile STS-123 mission to the International Space Station. Bloomberg.com reported that the 100-ton spacecraft traveled as fast as 25-times the speed of sound and endured temperatures hot enough to melt iron during the descent, which was at first delayed because of low clouds in the area. A team of people checked out Endeavour and prepared it for towing as crewmembers met with their families and underwent brief medical exams. The STS-123 crew began its record-breaking nearly 16-day mission on March 11, delivering the first segment of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency’s robotic system known as Dextre. In addition, astronaut Garrett Reisman officially joined the Expedition 16 crew, trading places with European Space Agency astronaut Léopold Eyharts, who returned to Earth aboard Endeavour after almost 50 days in space. Astronauts conducted a record five spacewalks during the mission; three of them included tasks devoted to the assembly of Dextre and the installation of related equipment. Dextre works with the orbital outpost’s robotic arm and resembles a human upper torso stick figure. The spacewalkers also stowed the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, the extension of the shuttle’s robotic arm, onto the station’s main truss during the fifth spacewalk. The Japanese pressurized laboratory module, to be launched on STS-124 in May, is too large to also accommodate the boom sensor in space shuttle Discovery’s payload bay. Discovery will use it when it docks at the ISS to check for signs of damage to its heat shield. "The success of this mission makes the International Space Station truly international," said NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier. "Japan is now a full-time participant, controlling the Kibo module from its center near Tokyo. We have teams working around the clock in the United States, Russia, Germany and Japan overseeing the crew's work and various elements of station. With the ATV scheduled to dock next week, Dextre ready to go, our partners' modules operating, and the next Soyuz preparing to launch, it's an exciting time to be in the space business." The European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle is scheduled to dock with the space station on April 3. Russia's Soyuz TMA-12 will launch the Expedition 17 crew to the station

Space shuttle Endeavour lands at 8:39 p.m. EDT March 26 at Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA. The STS-123 crew poses for an in-space crew portrait on March 23 on the last full day on the International Space Station. Clockwise from the lower right corner are astronauts Dominic Gorie, commander; Robert L. Behnken and Rick Linnehan, both mission specialists; Gregory H. Johnson, pilot; and Mike Foreman and JAXA's Takao Doi, both mission specialists. Credit: NASA The International Space Station is viewed from space shuttle Endeavour after undocking. The newly attached Japanese pressurized logistics module rests atop the Harmony Node. Credit: NASA TV

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