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Endeavour Returns Home

Shuttle touches down a day early to beat Hurricane Dean

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 21, 2007 3:11 PM CDT

(Newser) – Endeavour landed safely in Florida this afternoon, a day earlier than planned. Damage sustained during launch didn't affect the space shuttle's return from its 13-day mission, and neither did Hurricane Dean, CNN reports. "Welcome back. You give new meaning to the term 'higher education,' " Mission Control told the crew, which included the first teacher in space.

Reentry was moved up a day for fear that the storm would shut down the Johnson Space Center in Texas. The hurricane danger passed, but the decision to cut the mission short had already been made. The crew had to shorten a spacewalk and scramble to get a number of missions accomplished in time.

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The space shuttle Endeavour glides to a landing at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility Tuesday afternoon Aug. 21, 2007 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Endeavour returned to Earth on Tuesday, ending... (Associated Press)

Space shuttle Endeavour lands at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007.(AP Photo/John Raoux, POOL) (Associated Press)

rricane. (AP Photo/NASA TV) (Associated Press)

This image made available by NASA on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007, shows astronauts Charlie Hobaugh, left, Tracy Caldwell, center, and Canadian astronaut Dave Williams, all crewmembers of space shuttle Endeavour,... (Associated Press)

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Space Shuttle Endeavour comes in for a landing in this 2002 archival footage. (ZeroScam (YouTube))

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Endeavour Returns Home