Endeavour Helped Catch Two Robbers

As the space shuttle Endeavour returned to Earth for the last time, in the wee hours of June 1, she managed to double as an alarm system for a Florida woman who was being robbed as she slept.

When the orbiter produced its two distinctive sonic booms, as it approached the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for a night landing, it woke up a woman on Amanda Kay Way, in Kissimmee, Florida.

The woman then leaned out of her window, and noticed two men trying to steal her car, which was parked in the driveway. She made a call to the police, which registered at 2:31 am EDT (0631 GMT).

This is three minutes before the shuttle landed at a KSC runway, at 2:34 am EDT (0634 GMT). Endeavour wrapped up its final space journey with an added benefit, in addition to its 25 missions.

According to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, after the woman called the police, the burglerers ran away, jumping into another vehicle and driving into the night. However, they were apprehended a short distance away, Space reports.

The two operated mostly in the Florida subdivision of Remington, and are suspected of having committed at least 5 car burglaries and one home burglary throughout this area. The suspects were identified as Melvin Andrew Manning, Jr., and Justin Dinzey, who are both 18.

Representatives from the Sheriff's Office indicate that the investigation is still ongoing, and that the two thieves could be slammed with additional charges as the situation unfolds.

Endeavour, like its sister spacecraft, produces two sonic booms as it approaches landing sites. These happen because the orbiters are traveling faster than the speed of sound. The loud booms take place one second apart from each other, as the nose and the tail produce individual booms.

The space shuttle was returning home following the STS-134 mission it conducted to the International Space Station (ISS). Its astronauts spend a little less than 16 days in space, of which 11 docked to the orbital facility.

Now, after completing its 19-year tour of duty, Endeavour will undergo a wide array of decommissioning processes, which will eventually make it safe for public display. The orbiter will be shipped to the California Science Center, in Los Angeles, as soon as spring 2012.