Space Shuttle Prepares For Trip Home

Washington D.C. (AHN) - After a a record five successful spacewalks and 12 days at the International Space Station, astronauts are preparing for the shuttle Endeavour's return to Earth. The seven-member crew put together a space station robot Dextre, and installed a new Japanese-made laboratory for the orbiting complex. They spent their final hours aboard the ISS wrapping up transfers of equipment and supplies between Endeavour and the station.

The hatches between the two craft were closed and the space shuttle undocked ahead of its return to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The shuttle is due back on Earth Wednesday evening.

Astronaut Garrett Reisman flew up aboard Endeavour to replace French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who is coming home on the shuttle. The three remaining astronauts aboard the ISS will now be busy docking Europe's new cargo carrier, Jules Verne, on April 3. One week later, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft will arrive, carrying a fresh space station crew.

During the 16-day mission, astronauts also tested new repair techniques for the shuttle's heat shield. NASA has been testing different in-space repair techniques on the shuttle's protective layer since a crack in Columbia's heat shield caused it to explode while re-entering Earth's atmosphere in 2003. The accident killed all seven astronauts.

NASA plans to complete construction of the ISS by 2010.