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.