EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday, taking a detour to sunny California after storms hit the main landing strip in Florida.

Endeavour wrapped up a 16-day trip that left the international space station freshly remodeled and capable of housing bigger crews. The shuttle dropped off all kinds of home improvement equipment, including a new bathroom, kitchenette, exercise machine, two sleeping quarters and a recycling system designed to convert astronauts urine and sweat into drinking water.

But the mission wasnt without its problems. Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper let go of a $100,000 tool bag during the first spacewalk, muttering `Oh, great` as it floated away.

And Endeavours astronauts also had to put in extra effort to get the urine processor working.

The shuttle crew also conducted four spacewalks to clear metal shavings from a solar wing rotary joint at the space station. The joint had been jammed for more than a year and hampered energy production at the orbiting outpost.

Initial tests indicated the repairs on the joint were successful.

The space station additions — and a few more scheduled to go up on the next shuttle flight in February — should enable NASA to double the size of the space station crew by June.

On Sunday, NASA ordered the detour to California after dangerously high wind and a stormy sky prevented a Florida landing.

Returning home from a six-month mission was former space station resident Gregory Chamitoff, who had rocketed away from the planet at the end of May.

The space shuttles journey, short by comparison, spanned 6.6 million miles and 250 orbits of Earth.