(20 Jan 1996) English/Nat
The NASA space shuttle, Endeavour, has completed its busy nine-day flight with a rare nighttime landing in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The touchdown at Kennedy Space Centre followed a journey of five-point-nine (m) million kilometres (three-point-seven (m) million miles) and a mission in which crew members fetched satellites and walked in space.
It was only the eighth time in 74 missions that a NASA shuttle touched down in the dark.
The 2:42 A-M (0742 gmt) landing took place because of the course the shuttle had to follow to chase down a Japanese satellite during the mission.
The Japanese space programme paid NASA about 65 (m) million dollars to pick up and deliver the satellite which had been in orbit for nearly a year.
That satellite was brought back aboard the shuttle along with a NASA probe the astronauts released and retrieved two days later.
A Japanese astronaut, Koichi Wakata, used the shuttle's robot arm to grab the Japanese science satellite and NASA probe.
The mission also did some preparatory research for a planned international space station.
Crew members took spacewalks and seemed happy with the new heated spacesuits and station-building tools and techniques the tested for 13 hours in the frigid void.
A crew transporter finally reunited them with friends and relatives - it backed away from the Endeavor and lowered the crew back down to earth.
All members of the crew looked relaxed as they disembarked the craft as they were met and congratulated by colleagues.
They took the time to pose for photographs and wave at cameras before making their way into the space station.
Construction of the space station is supposed to begin in 1997, taking five years to complete.
NASA plans practice spacewalks on three more shuttle missions - the next one is due this spring.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
