The space shuttle Endeavour has landed Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base in California, completing a 16-day mission that furnished the International Space Station to house a crew of six. The mission began on November the 14th, with a moonlit launch from Cape Canaveral.

As for the landing place, NASA detoured Endeavour to its secondary landing site because of gusty winds and thunderstorms sweeping across Kennedy Space Center, conditions that were not expected to improve today. Endeavour landed at 4:26 p.m., being welcomed by astronaut Alan Poindexter from the Mission Control in Houston.

The visit to the ISS lasted about 12 days, during which Endeavour's crew unloaded more than seven tons of appliances, supplies and science experiments from the shuttle's packed cargo container. The centerpiece is a system which will recycle astronauts' urine and sweat for drinking water, an essential resource needed for station crews to double to six people next year.

The astronauts initially struggled to activate the system's urine processor, prompting concern that the unit might have to be sent back to the ground, but, after all the trouble it caused, it started working, allowing astronauts to send samples back to NASA. Other home improvements delivered by Endeavour include a toiler, refrigerator, exercise machine, two sleep stations and a rack for science experiments.

Furthermore, the astronauts also made four spacewalks, in order to repair a rotary joint that did not produce enough power from the light given by the Sun. However, during the first spacewalk, a mistake caused astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper to lose a tool bag, which floated from her grasp. Sandra Magnus, an Endeavour crew member, replaced Greg Chamitoff onboard the ISS.

Now, Endeavour's crew that returned to Earth was formed by Steve Bowen, Eric Boe, Shane Kimbrough, Don Pettit, Chris Ferguson, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Greg Chamitoff. The next scheduled NASA flight, the one of Discovery, is targeted to launch February 12, and is set to deliver a final set of solar wings to the ISS.