Endeavour home after completing Japanese space milestone available (2nd Roundup)

By Anne K Walters Jul 31, 2009, 21:58 GMT

Washington - The space shuttle Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Friday after completing a major milestone for the Japanese space agency at the orbiting space station.

The landing at 1448 GMT marked the end of the 17-day mission and brought home the seven-person crew of US, Canadian and Japanese astronauts. There were no problems during the landing and the shuttle appeared to be in good condition, NASA officials said later.

The Japanese space agency, Jaxa, has been taking a more visible role in the international partnership since the addition of its Kibo laboratory module to the International Space Station. Beginning in September, it will also begin sending unmanned cargo vehicles to supply the station.

The Endeavour brought the final piece of Kibo to the ISS - an external platform which was installed on the Kibo laboratory during the first of the mission's five spacewalks. The porch will expose experiments to the extremities of space.

Japanese space agency Jaxa President Keiji Tachikawa told reporters the completion of Kibo was 'very important in our country' and would enable the completion of scientific research.

During Endeavour's mission, astronauts used robotic arms to place an X-ray camera and a device to study cosmic dust on the porch, alongside a communication device to send data between the space station and ground crews in Japan. A spacewalk also saw the installation of video cameras on Kibo's porch.

More experiments will be added in future missions.

The landing also marked the return of Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata to Earth after spending four months as a long-term ISS crew member. US astronaut Tim Kopra has replaced Wakata on the six-member ISS permanent crew.

'For me, four and a half months passed like a week and I'm just happy to be here after completing the Kibo assembly,' Wakata told reporters.

Wakata was greeted back on Earth with a much-welcomed meal of sushi after months of prepackaged space food, and he later said more of the traditional Japanese food is on order for his 46th birthday on Saturday.

US and Japanese space flight officials lauded his role as a member of the first six-member ISS crew, especially his skill in operating the robotic arm. Tachikawa said he had spoken with Wakata, who seemed healthy and in good spirits.

'He is still young, so maybe he will have a chance to do another space station long stay,' Tachikawa said. 'If possible he would like to go to the moon I suppose.'

The mission also saw several spacewalks to replace batteries on one of the station's solar panels.

The space shuttle Discovery is due to travel to the International Space Station in late August as NASA attempts to complete the orbiting laboratory before the space shuttle programme ends next year. But NASA has not yet set a firm launch date for Discovery. The mission is dependent in part on the schedule for the first unmanned Japanese cargo carrier to the station, which is due to launch in September.

With the landing, only seven shuttle missions remain before NASA retires its flights to the ISS by the end of 2010. It is developing a new moon-bound spacecraft called Orion which could be ready by 2015 for trial flights. In the meantime, US astronauts will have to rely on Russia's Soyuz craft to travel to and from the ISS.

The NASA budget does not include any funds for the space station itself after 2015, but NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier seemed to dismiss fears that the ISS will be scrapped altogether in just a few years.

'We have not done anything to move toward halting space station,' he said, noting that an ongoing administration review of space operations will weigh in next month with recommendations for the station. Those recommendations might also include extending the shuttle programme, former astronaut and review panel member Sally Ride indicated earlier this week.

'Now is the time to start really utilizing space station and then it will become obvious where we go with space station,' Gerstenmaier said.