The space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven returned to Earth on Wednesday, making a rare nighttime touchdown to wrap up "a two-week adventure" at the international space station.

The shuttle swooped through the darkness and landed on NASA's illuminated runway at 8:39 p.m., an hour after sunset. "Welcome home, Endeavour," Mission Control radioed. "Congrats to the entire crew."

Replied Endeavour's commander, Dominic Gorie: "It was a super-rewarding mission, exciting from the start to the ending." The shuttle's homecoming was a bit delayed.

Endeavour was supposed to land before sunset, but at virtually the last minute, clouds moved in. As the astronauts took an extra swing around the planet, the sky cleared enough to satisfy flight controllers and -- after asking Gorie for his opinion -- they gave him the green light to head home.

It was only the 22nd space shuttle landing in darkness. Less than one-fifth of all missions have ended at nighttime; the last one was in 2006.

The shuttle blasted into orbit on March 11. Shuttle commander Dominic Gorie said the spaceship's in great shape and the crew is looking forward to returning.

Astronauts dropped off the first section of Japan's Kibo lab at the international space station. The rest of the lab will be delivered in May.

The crew also took a gigantic handyman robot to the orbiting facility and assembled it during several spacewalks. The 12-foot-tall robot has two 11-foot arms. It is meant to handle some of the tasks that previously required a spacewalk.

The 12-day visit to the station was the longest ever for a shuttle, and it included five spacewalks.