They traveled 6.6 million miles. That’s 249 trips around the world, 249 sunrises and sunsets. And all this in just under 16 days!

Space Shuttle orbiter Endeavour just returned from an unusually long trip into space, on a record-setting space station assembly mission. It made headlines for its spectacular night launch, and curiously it also returned at night. Generally NASA avoids launches and landings at night — reduced visibility makes for difficulty in observation.

There were quite a few bumps along the way of the mission — a cantankerous joint in a solar panel on the ISS provided plenty of headaches. But the crew managed to get all of their tasks done, with a record in spacewalking time: Four astronauts spent well over 33 hours in outer space, working hard to install a number of new components.

Spacewalks may look like a lot of fun but are in fact one of the toughest jobs you can imagine. Every second, every hand movement, every procedure is rehearsed over and over on Earth in a giant pool at Johnson Space Center where the neutral buoyancy under water provides the closest thing to the sensation of weightlessness. You can’t just put on a space suit and venture outside either — preparations for a spacewalk are long, complicated and absolutely essential for the astronauts’ safety. Still, they undisputedly have the best view ever on the job, and while they really don’t have time to float and stare much, it must be an amazing experience.

A European Space Agency astronaut who had been working on the ISS since February came back with the Endeavour crew. As always, special medical personnel stood by to tend specifically to the long-term space traveler upon arrival. Leopold Eyharts, a French Air Force general, and the rest of the crew will return to Houston a day after the landing.

With the next mission scheduled for August the shuttle fleet has the summer off, but of course the work on them never stops.

For some cool facts about STS-123 check out http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts123/fdf/123quicklook1.html