CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The Space Shuttle Endeavour wrapped up its 23rd mission Friday, with its seven astronauts landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a 16-day historic mission to work on the International Space Station.
Endeavour made a picture perfect landing, flying over Cuba and Florida to land from the North on a clear summer morning.
Thunderstorms are set to roll in later Friday morning.
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The smooth and punctual late morning arrival set off a steady stream of praise.
"Congratulations on a superb mission from beginning to end. Very well done," radioed Mission Control.
While visiting the space station, Polansky and his crew put on a new addition to Japan's $1 billion lab, installed fresh batteries, and stockpiled some big spare parts. They accomplished all of their major objectives and were part of the biggest gathering ever in space: Counting the six station residents, the crowd totaled 13.
The shuttle flight lasted 16 days and spanned 6.5 million miles, one of NASA's longest. It wrapped up a 138-day voyage for Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who moved into the space station last March. He swapped places with American Timothy Kopra, who rode up on Endeavour.
Mission Control passed along best wishes from the space station men, who said they missed Wakata but were "pretty happy" with Kopra.
"We certainly miss being there, but there's no place like home," replied shuttle commander Mark Polansky.
Before leaving orbit, Wakata said he was yearning for some sushi for his first meal back on the planet and a soak in a hot spring once he's back in Japan. At the top of his list, though, was reuniting with his wife and 11-year-old son, who were on hand at the space center for the homecoming.
Wakata made it back just in time for his 46th birthday, on Saturday.
The shuttle astronauts carried out five spacewalks -- tying a record for a single flight -- and helped their station colleagues when a toilet flooded and an air purifier overheated. The commode, one of three on the linked shuttle and station, was fixed in a day. But the air-cleansing system remained out of order Friday.
Another highlight: The astronauts got to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing with their own spacewalk.
Japan's Kibo lab — which means Hope — got a front porch for outdoor experiments during Endeavour's visit. An X-ray telescope and space environment monitor were installed on the porch, along with communication equipment.
The mission concluded work on the lab — the largest one at the orbiting outpost — that spanned more than a year and three shuttle flights. Next up for the Japanese will be the debut launch in September of an unmanned cargo ship.
As for NASA, seven shuttle flights remain to finish the space station, now 83 percent complete with nearly 700,000 pounds of mass. The next launch, by Discovery, is targeted for the end of August.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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