Endeavour Crew Headed Home to Houston

A day after landing safely in California to conclude a 16-day mission, seven Endeavour astronauts are on their way home to Houston for a welcome ceremony at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center.

In brief remarks before departing Edwards Air Force Base in NASA jets, mission commander Chris Ferguson and pilot Eric Boe - joined by four of five crew mates - thanked supporters there.

"It was a wonderful mission," Ferguson said. "I'm glad that you were all here welcoming us with open arms when we came back yesterday."

You can track the crew's return to Houston here.

Boe, an Air Force colonel who went through test pilot school at Edwards, described the thrill of experiencing the shuttle's Mach 22 speed as it dropped back into Earth's atmosphere and clouds whizzed by.

"We were saying, 'Wow, it's a lot closer and a lot more personal now as you're getting closer to the ground,'" he said.

Boe said the speed reminded him of the pioneering X-15 rocket-powered aircraft tested at Edwards.

"It was actually a big part of what made the shuttle fly," he said. "And it was very cool to be sitting there looking (down) at it, going, this is kind of like one of the runs that they made back in the '60s in the X-15, making it happen."

Astronaut Greg Chamitoff did not make the public appearance. Ferguson said he was still re-acclimating after six months living in weightlessness as a flight engineer on the International Space Station.

Mission specialists Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Don Pettit, who had not participated in remarks shortly after Sunday's landing, stood by Ferguson and Boe in blue flight suits. Mission specialists Steve Bowen and Shane Kimbrough rounded out the crew.

The crew left behind Endeavour, which is expected to be flown home to Kennedy Space Center in seven to 10 days, ferried by a modified 747 jumbo jet at a cost of $1.8 million.