Shuttle astronauts prepare for Wednesday landing

By Jeff Franks

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Shuttle Endeavour astronauts stowed gear and tested flight systems ahead of Wednesday's return to Earth that will end what NASA hailed as a landmark mission to the International Space Station.

The seven crewmembers ran through the usual pre-landing checks on Tuesday, including a test of steering jets that will help guide Endeavour to a scheduled touchdown at 7:05 p.m. EDT on Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"No evidence of any problems, all the jets look good," flight commentator John Ira Petty said from Mission Control.

The shuttle, which lifted off on March 11 and spent 12 days at the International Space Station, delivered the first segment of Japan's three-piece Kibo laboratory and a Canadian-built maintenance robot named Dextre.

The main segment of Kibo, which will be the station's largest lab when completed early next year, is scheduled for transport to the outpost on a shuttle flight in May. Kibo is Japanese for "hope."

Kibo's arrival marked the first time that all 15 partner nations in the $100 billion project have had a facility on the space station, the first segment of which was launched into orbit in November 1998.

"So this is a fabulous moment for us," NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini said in a Monday night press briefing.

"It is without a doubt the largest, most technologically challenging international project ever undertaken by humankind, and we as a people ought to be proud of where we are."