Tech Shout!

On Tuesday as planned the space shuttle Endeavour made its way back home. After completing a 13—day journey of over 5.2 million miles in space, the space shuttle along with the crew has safely returned to Earth.

NASA decided to recall Endeavour earlier than it had actually intended to only because of the hurricane Dean, which is a powerful storm that hammered the Caribbean coats during the last two days.

Mission managers were afraid that the hurricane could result in an evacuation of the mission control center in Houston, Texas.

The Endeavour’s crew which comprised Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Tracy Caldwell, Rick Mastracchio, Barbara R. Morgan, Alvin Drew and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Dave Williams spent almost nine days at the international space station. They continued the on-orbit construction of the station and transferred cargo between the two spacecrafts.

Besides, during their trip, the STS-118 crew conducted four spacewalks at the ISS. The two major objectives were the installation of the S5 and the replacement of a failed altitude control gyroscope.

During their mission, a new system that enables docked shuttles to draw electrical power from the ISS to extend visits to the outpost was also activated successfully.

In fact, just a couple of hours after they landed back at the Kennedy Space Center, the crew of STS-118 spoke about their 13-days in orbit and daily work on the ISS.

Commander Scott Kelley said, “It was a great experience and the space station is really, I think, a stepping stone to going back to the moon and on to Mars some day.”

“To me the most spectacular part of being in orbit is essentially the view out the window,” he said. “It’s absolutely breathtaking.”

He also described his experience during spacewalks. “I mean here we are working away doing spacewalks and someone will say, ‘Look over your shoulder and you can see Hurricane Dean below you.’ And you see this gigantic hurricane really spanning across the whole area you are looking at … These are moments you truly take away with you.”, he said.