SPACE WIRE
Space shuttle Endeavour heads back to Earth
HOUSTON, Texas (AFP) Dec 03, 2002
After replacing the crew of the International Space Station and installing some new equipment, the space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the orbiting space station and was heading home Tuesday.

Astronauts aboard Endeavour wound up their 11-day mission aimed at outfitting the ISS with new parts of the station's future climate system, as well as dropping off a new three-man crew -- expected to remain in space until March 2003 -- and transferring more than a tonne of new equipment, fresh supplies and scientific experiments.

Mission highlights included three space walks, but the third had a glitch.

After seven hours in space ended at 0225 GMT Sunday, Endeavour astronauts managed to unstick a jammed railcar which had shaken up the schedule for the final walk.

Nevertheless, the two astronauts managed to complete all of the planned work.

On their last day in space Endeavour crew members got some time to chat with family members and say good-bye to the remaining ISS crew.

The shuttle separated from the ISS structure at 2005 GMT Monday over northwestern Australia, said NASA's mission control based in Houston, Texas.

Soon after departing Endeavour released two miniature satellites as part of an experiment for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US space agency said.

The two mini-satellites are tethered together and will be used for three days as a technology demonstration of the use of micro- and nano-technologies in space systems, according to NASA.

The crew will also be bringing home the malfunctioning Microgravity Science Glovebox, a sealed container with built-in gloves which provides an enclosed work space for investigations conducted in the unique, low-gravity environment.

The shuttle is expected to return to the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2048 GMT on Wednesday with Commander Jim Wetherbee, co-pilot Paul Lockhart, astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington along with the the station's old team: Russian commander Valery Korzun, American Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Sergei Treschev.

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