Endeavour Returned Safely To Earth On Wednesday Evening:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The space shuttle Endeavour returned safely to earth on Wednesday evening, completing a record-breaking 16-day mission to the International Space Station.

The shuttle landed at 8:39 p.m., roughly an hour after the shuttle’s commander, Capt. Dominic L. Gorie, fired twin braking rockets that brought the spacecraft out of orbit.

Mission managers canceled the day’s first landing opportunity, which would have brought the Endeavour to the runway at 7:05 p.m.; clouds threatened to obscure the site. After consulting with weather officers and Captain Gorie, however, the managers determined that conditions were improving by the time the second opportunity of the day came around and ordered Captain Gorie to bring the shuttle out of orbit and bring it and its crew of seven astronauts down to the 15,000-foot landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Space Program never ceases to amaze me. Never.