WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

The Space Shuttle orbiter Endeavour makes a smooth landing under cover of darkness on KSC's Runway 15, bringing an end to the successful nine-day STS-72 mission. Main gear touchdown was at 2:41:41 a.m. EST. It was the third night landing at KSC and the eighth since Shuttle flights began in 1981. Highlights of the first mission of 1996 were the retrieval of the Japanese Space Flyer Unit (SFU), the deployment and retrieval of NASA's Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology-Flyer (OAST-Flyer), and two Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) or spacewalks. Crew members were Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Brent W. Jett Jr., and Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao, Winston E. Scott, Dr. Daniel T. Barry and Koichi Wakata, representing the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA).