Endeavour lands safely

Space shuttle Endeavour has landed safely at Florida's Kennedy Space Centre following a 13-day mission to the International Space Station.

Commander Scott Kelly gently steered the 100-ton spaceship onto the three-mile runway just a short distance from the seaside launch pad where the shuttle's journey began on August 8.

Nasa brought the shuttle home a day early after it appeared Hurricane Dean could force an evacuation of the Houston centre that operates the shuttle during flight. The storm turned toward the south instead.

Six of the seven astronauts climbed out and inspected their ship, but former teacher Barbara Morgan did not emerge from the crew-transport vehicle.

She was still wobbly from the effects of gravity and was unable to stand and walk outside in the heat.

Nasa administrator Michael Griffin said she was doing fine, but feeling "just a little bit under the weather."

A small piece of insulation fell off Endeavour's tank at launch and smashed into two heat-resistant tiles on the ship's belly, sparking a six-day effort to determine if a risky spacewalk to plug the gash would be needed.

In the end, Nasa managers said they were 100 per cent confident the damage would pose no threat to the shuttle.

Nasa officials gathered under the shuttle while it was parked on the runway to inspect the gouged tiles.

They trained cameras focused on the damage to gather detailed close-up views.

Nasa spokesman George Diller said: "On first glance here, there doesn't appear to be much damage from the heat of re-entry there."

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