Space shuttle Endeavour: home at KSC after cross-country flight

December 12, 3:02 PMSpace News ExaminerPatricia Phillips

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Space shuttle Endeavour has completed its cross-country trip aboard its carrier aircraft. The piggyback duo is safely home  on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at Kennedy Space Center. 

Endeavour returned to its launch site  with another 6.6 million miles of space mileage on its odometer after the STS-126 space station "home improvement" mission. The 15-day, four-spacewalk mission substantially upgraded the International Space Station.

Today's landing weather was clear enough for the carrier pilots to do a stately fly-over along the Space Coast. They also did one complete fly-by of the landing facility, giving onlookers and photographers a bonus today.

The shuttle left Edwards Air Force Base on Wednesday.

Here's a look back at Endeavour's Nov. 15 launch under a full orange harvest moon. Tonight's full moon, at perigee, will be the biggest full moon in eight years, setting Endeavour's voyages against a vibrant lunar backdrop.

Check out dozens of prior Endeavour stories here.

.Image credit: NASA TV