Mission

Endeavour landing at Kennedy Space Center（Image credit: NASA）

The space shuttle Endeavour landed on the runway of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 9:39 a.m. today.

At 4:26 a.m., the shuttle's payload bay door was closed in preparation for reentry and landing that was targeted the first landing opportunity; however, the mission managers decided to forgo the first opportunity since unfavorable clouds began to gather over the KSC area about the scheduled landing time.

There were two landing opportunities for the space shuttle today. Endeavour landed using the second landing opportunity.

The flight duration of the STS-123 Mission is 15 days 18 hours and 11 minutes, which is the longest mission in the ISS assembly flight history.

During the STS-123 Mission, Endeavour orbited the earth 249 times and flew 10,580,000 km (approx. 6,578,000 miles).

Astronaut Doi's activities on landing day

Donned his Advanced Crew Escape Suit (shuttle's launch and landing suit) and settled in his seat at the center of the shuttle's middeck, astronaut Doi has returned to the KSC today. After Endeavour's safe and smooth landing, he appeared on the runway of the KSC landing facility along with the other crew members and inspected the shuttle's condition after reentry.

The STS-123 Mission crew will return to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) tomorrow morning.

For further information, please refer to the NASA STS-123 Mission Status Report.

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)