Washington - The space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station Monday evening to begin its return voyage to Earth. The shuttle left the station at 8:25 pm (0025 GMT), ending a visit that included five spacewalks and the delivery of the first component of the Japanese Kibo module and Canadian robot Dextre.
Its seven-member crew are to scheduled to land in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Wednesday evening, returning French astronaut Leopold Eyharts to Earth after more than six weeks aboard the ISS. US astronaut Garret Reisman is taking his place on the ISS crew.
The undocking was delayed by about 20 minutes, due to a minor problem with one of the station's solar panels.
Japan's Kibo laboratory will allow astronauts to perform about 100 experiments that could aid the development of medications and test new materials in the weightless environment. Japanese astronaut Takao Doi is part of the Endeavour crew and helped install the Kibo lab on the station.
The two-armed Dextre robot, which cost more than 200 million dollars, is the final component of the station's mobile servicing system.
