The shuttle Endeavour descended safely to Earth on Friday, ending a successful 16-day assembly mission to the International Space Station (ISS) with the final piece of Japan's Kibo science laboratory.
The seven US, Canadian and Japanese astronauts aboard Endeavour touched down at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 10:48 am (1448 GMT). There were concerns that early morning thunder storms, coastal rain showers and fog near the Florida landing site might force shuttle commander Mark Polanski and his crew to postpone their return until Saturday.