Space shuttle Endeavour has undocked the international Space Centre and is headed back to Earth, to the Kennedy Space Centre. The shuttle’s main mission was to deliver equipment to the space station in order to provide accommodation that would serve a larger crew of people living in outer space. Astronauts also performed spacewalking missions, in order to rotate a solar wing that was not facing the right way.

A spacewalk mission lasts 6 hours and a half and during this time astronauts had to clean and lubricate the wing for maximum performance. Astronauts have also installed a water recycling system that can transform urine, sweat and moist into drinkable water. The project was just tested and it seems that it performs fine. NASA is planning to use the water recycling system for longer space flights, journeys in which water may become an issue.

Endeavour is set to land on Sunday after a spectacular atmosphere reentry. According to the astronauts that performed the spacewalking missions, Endeavour is in great shape, the main concern being its heat shields which were in perfect conditions, not needing any reparations.

Astronauts will return home with samples from the water collected through the new recycling system, in order to establish if the system works and if the water is indeed drinkable.

Endeavour spent 12 flight days docked to the International Space Station, time in which astronauts made modifications to the stations to accommodate a crew of 6. This is not the longest period of time the space shuttle remained docked, but it is still impressive, showing everybody that the technology and techniques used for space exploration are getting a lot better.