Endeavourastronauts will today prepare the space shuttle for landing tomorrow as they near the end of what Nasa hailed as a landmark mission.
The Endeavour with Earth in the background after undocking from the International Space Station yesterday Photo: Nasa
After delivering the first Japanese module to the International Space Station and assembling a Canadian robot for station maintenance, the seven crew members will stow gear and check flight control systems to prepare for their descent.
Endeavour, which launched on March 11th and spent 12 days at the space station before departing yesterday, is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida tomorrow.
The shuttle crew performed five spacewalks, with much of their time devoted to the assembly of Dextre, the Canadian robot that will be used to maintain the station exterior.
But their main task was to install the first piece of Japan's three-piece Kibo complex, which will be the largest laboratory on the space outpost when completed early next year.
The main segment of Kibo, which is Japanese for "hope," will be ferried to the station in a May shuttle flight.
Kibo's arrival marked the first time that all 15 partner nations in the $100 billion project have been represented on the space station, the first segment of which was launched into orbit in November 1998.