Endeavour mission ends early as storm threatens Houston

SPACE shuttle Endeavour undocked from the international space station a day early yesterday, as NASA kept a wary eye on Hurricane Dean.

Space agency managers worried that the storm would move towards Houston and force them to evacuate to a smaller-staffed makeshift control centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Endeavour crew prepared to land tomorrow as a precaution.

“Endeavour departed,” space station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin said, as ringing bells heralded the shuttle’s parting, a tradition borrowed from the US Navy.

“Thanks for everything, Scott and Endeavour crew,” station resident Clay Anderson said to shuttle commander Scott Kelly. “God speed.”

“We couldn’t have gotten everything accomplished without you guys,” Kelly replied. “We look forward to seeing you back on planet Earth.”

The shuttle crew, which includes teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, had been at the orbiting outpost since August 10. In that time, they attached a new truss segment to the station, delivered cargo and replaced a failed gyroscope, which controls the station’s orientation.

Although it was uncertain whether Dean, a Category 4 storm, might strike the Texas coastline later this week, NASA managers said it would be irresponsible not to cut the mission short, especially since most of the tasks had been completed.

NASA is ready to rush a skeleton crew of flight controllers to Cape Canaveral, but only if the shuttle cannot land tomorrow and the hurricane is bearing down on Houston and threatening the city for several days.