U.S. space shuttle Endeavour lands safely after successful mission

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The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour has made a successful landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California after being forced to abandon plans to land in Florida, a NASA spokesman said.
WASHINGTON, December 1 (RIA Novosti) - The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour has made a successful landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California after being forced to abandon plans to land in Florida, a NASA spokesman said.

The shuttle touched down at 04:25 p.m. EST on Sunday (21:25 GMT).

The crew was unable to return to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the initial landing site, due to weather concerns, NASA said. Endeavour will now travel some 2,500 miles from California to Florida on the back of a modified 747 jumbo jet within the next seven to 10 days.

The shuttle docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on November 16 as part of a mission to deliver equipment to enable the orbiting platform to hold six crew members, instead of the current three. NASA intends to double the crew size of the ISS as early as May, 2009.

"In addition, the STS-126 astronauts delivered Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus, who replaced Greg Chamitoff, now a mission specialist who returned to Earth aboard Endeavour," NASA said on its website.

Endeavour's next flight is scheduled for May 2009.

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