Endeavour Returns, Atlantis Moves to Pad

June 1, 2011 — It’s been a busy morning at the Kennedy Space Center. Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts landed at 2:35 a.m. EDT, ending a 16-day journey of more than 6.5 million miles to the International Space Station. Then, at 3:29 a.m., space shuttle Atlantis completed its nearly seven-hour 3.4 mile trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A to ready for its July 8 launch. "We've had a lot going on here," said Mike Moses, space shuttle launch integration manager. "Being able to send Atlantis out to the pad and then go out and land Endeavour was really a combination I never expected to have." Endeavour delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, which NASA officials said is already measuring cosmic rays and will help researchers search for evidence of dark matter, strange matter and antimatter. Endeavour also delivered the Express Logistics Carrier-3, a platform carrying spare parts that will sustain space station operations once the shuttles are retired from service. "I think we all should be really impressed how big and magnificent that space station is," said STS-134 Mission Specialist Mike Fincke at the crew press conference following landing. Describing their parting view of the space station where he served once as crew and once as commander, he said, "We were impressed; we were excited like 5 year olds at a rollercoaster park." Fincke set a new record for time a U.S. astronaut has spent in space when he reached his 377th day on May 27, surpassing previous record holder Peggy Whitson. With today's landing, Fincke's record now is at 382 days in space. It was the final mission for Endeavour, which is the youngest of NASA’s space shuttle fleet. Since 1992, Endeavour flew 25 missions, spent 299 days in space, orbited Earth 4,671 times and traveled 122,883,151 miles. Atlantis will be the final mission of NASA’s space shuttle program. The STS-135 mission will deliver supplies and spare parts to the space station while astronauts will install an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to refuel satellites in space robotically -- even satellites not designed to be serviced.

Space shuttle Endeavour makes its final landing at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, completing a 16-day mission to the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls STS-134 astronauts answer questions after landing at Kennedy Space Center. Image credit: NASA Commander Mark Kelly leads the astronauts off Endeavour. Image credit: NASA

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