Shuttle crew prepares for homecoming

The shuttle Endeavour astronauts packed equipment and tested landing systems today ahead of a scheduled homecoming at Florida's Kennedy Space Centre tomorrow.

During their 16-day mission, the shuttle astronauts prepared the International Space Station for an expanded, six-member crew by delivering a water recycling system, a second toilet, two small bedrooms, a galley and additional exercise gear.

The astronauts also conducted four spacewalks to fix a long-standing problem that was hampering the station's solar-powered electrical system.

"We came up here with a very long list of objectives and (although) we encountered a glitch or two along the way, we managed to achieve them all," Endeavour commander Chris Ferguson said during an inflight interview today.

"My mind is on the landing," he said, "but I'm extremely satisfied with what this fine crew has accomplished."

Endeavour is scheduled to touch down at NASA's Florida base at 1:19 p.m. EST to wrap up the agency's fourth and final mission of the year. Nine shuttle flights remain, including a final servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope, before the ships are retired in 2010.

Among the items returning to Earth are bags of what Endeavour crew member Don Pettit delicately termed "yesterday's coffee" for analysis on Earth.

He worked with station commander Mike Fincke and returning station flight engineer Greg Chamitoff to install a water purification system that recycles urine and humidity condensate from the air into drinking water.

NASA wants to have the system running for three months before adding three more residents to the orbital research base. The shuttle remained docked at the space station for an extra day to bring home water that had been processed through the machine.

Ferguson, pilot Eric Boe and flight engineer Stephen Bowen checked Endeavour's steering jets and movable body flaps that will be needed during Sunday's descent and landing.

The crew reported seeing a small piece of debris fly off the shuttle during the tests, which involved pulsing the shuttle's steering jets. Flight controllers were studying pictures of the item to make sure it was not part of any critical system.

Astronauts also planned to release a small satellite for the Air Force intended to test a new type of solar cell.