Endeavour lands in Florida

The space shuttle Endeavour has landed in Florida to end a two-week mission that brought the assembly of the International Space Station close to completion.

The shuttle's high speed glide to earth ended with a touchdown at Nasa's Kennedy Space in Florida at 0320 GMT yesterday.

Endeavour's successful delivery of Tranquility, the final US habitable module, leaves Nasa with just four more shuttle missions to finish the station's outfitting.

The last of the flights, set for late September, will bring a 12-year effort by the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada to a close.

"Congratulations on a great mission," Mission Control radioed the six astronauts as the shuttle rolled to a stop.

"It's great to be home," said Endeavour commander George Zamka. "It was a great adventure."

The forecast for rain showers and low clouds at both Kennedy and the shuttle's backup runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California, had seemed to offer little hope of a landing on Sunday.

But Norm Knight, the Nasa flight director who supervised Endeavour's landing from Mission Control, urged his team to put aside thoughts of the gloomy forecast, recalling successful landings when the outlook was just as bleak.

After installing Tranquility, the shuttle astronauts worked with the five astronauts on the station to equip the new module with critical life support systems, exercise equipment and a roomy observation deck.

They also revived the station's water recycler. The system that recovers drinking water from urine and moisture in the breathing air is a crucial part of plans to keep the station staffed with a half-dozen astronauts when the shuttle is no longer available to deliver supplies.

The new observation dome surrounds a control post for a robot arm that will play a crucial role in the docking of the commercial capsules that Nasa expects to take over the cargo deliveries. The roomy dome also offers those living aboard the station unprecedented views of the earth below.