Nasa: Endeavour returns from final space flight
After 19 years in service and 25 flights, the Endeavour space shuttle returns to the Kennedy Space Center.
Space shuttle Endeavour has landed safely in Florida after an 11-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and will end its days as a museum exhibit after being retired from Nasa’s fleet.
It leaves Atlantis as the sole remaining craft – the Discovery vessel having been phased out in March – and its final flight in June will bring to an end a programme that has run for nearly 30 years.
The shuttles were meant to be replaced by Project Constellation, the next generation of vehicles that would be capable of travelling to the ISS and beyond.
These plans were cancelled last year when a new option was outlined by the Obama administration promising manned missions beyond the moon by 2025 and a mission to orbit Mars predicted for 2030.
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