CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Endeavour touched down at its Florida home base early on Wednesday, capping a 16-day mission to deliver a premier science experiment to the International Space Station on NASA's next-to-last shuttle flight.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Endeavour touched down at its Florida home base early on Wednesday, capping a 16-day mission to deliver a premier science experiment to the International Space Station on NASA's next-to-last shuttle flight.

A new nonprofit, with roots at the Kennedy Space Center, isn't concerned about shuttle launches and landings, but wants to be the facilitator for the security industry.. A new nonprofit, with roots at the Kennedy Space Center, wants to be the facilitator for the security industry. Dan Kaplan reports.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Endeavour touched down at its Florida home base early on Wednesday, capping a 16-day mission to deliver a premier science experiment to the International Space Station on NASA's next-to-last shuttle flight.

US space shuttle Endeavour prepared for its final landing early Wednesday, becoming the second American shuttle to enter retirement as the program draws to a close after 30 years.

The US space agency sent its last shuttle, Atlantis, out to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center so it can prepare for the final launch of the American shuttle program in July.

US astronaut Mark Kelly, who is commanding the shuttle Endeavour's final space flight, said Tuesday he is concerned about a drain of NASA talent once the US shuttle program ends later this year.

The US space shuttle Endeavour was on its way back to Earth on Monday after undocking from the International Space Station on its final journey before entering retirement, NASA said.

The US space shuttle Endeavour on Sunday prepared to undock from the International Space Station and jet back to Earth, wrapping up its final journey before entering retirement, NASA said.

The crew of the US space shuttle Endeavour wrapped up their fourth and final spacewalk Friday, a walkabout that surpassed the 1,000th hour of such trips to build the International Space Station.

A US judge ruled Wednesday that Jared Lee Loughner, the gunman accused of trying to assassinate a US congresswoman and killing six other people in Tucson, is mentally unfit to stand trial.

A US astronaut Drew Feustel learned a valuable lesson about being teary-eyed on a spacewalk, NASA said Wednesday after the Endeavour crew's third jaunt outside the International Space Station.

Minnesota airplane manufacturer Cirrus Design Corporation isn't responsible for the 2006 deaths of New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor in a small plane crash, a jury decided Tuesday.

NASA said Tuesday that a new spacecraft to ferry humans into deep space will be based on designs for the Orion crew exploration vehicle and built by Lockheed Martin.

US astronauts on Tuesday will try out a new set of exercises to prepare them for the change in pressure they encounter on their spacewalk outside the International Space Station, NASA said.

A Soyuz capsule brought back Italian, Russian and American astronauts from the International Space Station on Tuesday, with two of the space-suit clad crew phoning home from the Kazakh steppe.

ALMATY (Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz capsule delivered an international trio of astronauts back to Earth Tuesday after six months on the International Space Station, parachuting through clear skies toward a safe landing on the Kazakh steppe.

Two astronauts completed a second of four scheduled space walks of the Endeavour shuttle's final mission to the International Space Station on Sunday, the US space agency said.

Two astronauts on Sunday began a second of four scheduled space walks of the Endeavour shuttle's final mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the US space agency announced.

Astronauts have completed an inspection of the heat shield tiles on the underbelly of the space shuttle Endeavour after a first-ever papal video call to space from Pope Benedict XVI.