Shuttle forced into risky night landing

27 Mar, 2008 02:53 / Updated 16 years ago

The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven have returned to Earth, but not before cloud cover forced them into a rare night-time landing. The 16-day mission to the International Space Station was judged a success.

It was only the 22nd space shuttle landing in darkness. During the stay at the ISS, the crew conducted five spacewalks. It was the longest shuttle mission since flights resumed following the 2003 Columbia disaster.