The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis ended its 13-day space repair mission Sunday with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in the western state of California.
Bad weather kept the crew from landing the orbiter at its primary landing site, the Kennedy Space Center in the southeastern state of Florida.
NASA officials prefer to land the shuttle in Florida to save the time and expense of transporting it back to the east coast to prepare it for its next launch.
While in space, the shuttle astronauts made a series of spacewalks to rejuvenate the 19-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. The Atlantis crew installed new science instruments, pointing devices, and batteries. Astronauts also fixed broken instruments on the orbiting telescope.
The repairs are expected to extend the Hubble's life at least five more years.