The US space shuttle Endeavourlanded safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this afternoon after a successful mission to the International Space Station.
The shuttle and its seven-member crew left orbit for the Florida landing after a 16-day mission to complete Japan's International Space Station laboratory.
Endeavour spent 11 days at the orbiting outpost, where astronauts installed the final segment of Japan's $2.4 billion Kibo laboratory.
Flying 200 miles (320 km) over the Indian Ocean, commander Mark Polansky and pilot Douglas Hurley fired Endeavour's twin braking rockets at 9.41am EDT (1341 GMT) to slow the ship and begin an hour-long glide through the atmosphere.
During an 11-day stay at the station, Endeavour's crew installed a Japanese-built platform for telescopes and other science experiments. They also delivered spare parts and replaced batteries to keep the solar-powered station running during night-time passes around Earth.
Nasa is stocking the $100 billion station, a project of 16 nations, in preparation for the shuttle fleet's retirement next year after seven more missions.
Using a Japanese-built robot arm for the first time, astronauts placed three devices on the new platform: an X-ray telescope, a monitor to measure electromagnetic fields around the station and a communications antenna for a Japanese satellite network.
One of the Endeavourastronauts, rookie Timothy Kopra, remained behind on the space station, taking over the flight engineer's post previously held by Japan's Koichi Wakata, who returns home aboard the shuttle after 4 1/2 months in orbit.
Reuters