Space Shuttle Endeavour Prepares For Earth Landing

Space Shuttle Endeavour and its crew are making final preparations for their return to Earth.

Endeavour's 16-day mission was scheduled to end with a landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:05 PM EDT, 33 minutes before sundown.

Despite a small nick in the windshield, Space Shuttle Endeavour is in good shape while weather forecasts looked favorable for the landing. The small nick did not stop NASA officials from clearing Endeavour for landing nor did it concern the seven astronauts aboard the shuttle.

"They are just as confident as we are that Endeavour is ready to come home," NASA flight director Richard Jones said.

The big milestone achieved was when the extraordinary mission delivered the first segment of Japan's three-piece Kibo laboratory.

The space module's facility finally gave Japan a presence on the space orbit post and meant that all 15 partner nations are now represented on the $100 billion outpost.

The main lab of Kibo, which means "hope" in Japanese, will be delivered in a May shuttle mission, followed by the final piece, an external platform, early next year.

NASA plans 10 more shuttle missions to construct and supply the station before the space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. It also has a shuttle mission scheduled this year to update the Hubble Space Telescope.

Joining Endeavour on the ride back to Earth was French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, returning after 1-1/2 months on the station where he set up Columbus, the European lab delivered during a February shuttle mission.