The space shuttle Atlantis begins its trip to the launch pad Tuesday in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The final shuttle flight is planned for no earlier than July 8.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts returned to Earth today, closing out the next-to-last mission in NASA's 30-year program with a safe middle-of-the-night landing.

Endeavour touched down on the runway a final time under the cover of darkness, just as Atlantis, the last shuttle bound for space, arrived at the launch pad for the grand finale in five weeks.

Commander Mark Kelly — whose wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, remained behind at her rehab center in Houston — brought Endeavour to a stop before hundreds of onlookers that included the four Atlantis astronauts who will take flight in July.

The museum-bound Endeavour, the youngest of the shuttles, logged nearly 123 million miles over 25 spaceflights.

“Your landing ends a vibrant legacy for this amazing vehicle that will long be remembered. Welcome home, Endeavour,” Mission Control told Kelly and his crewmates, who wrapped up U.S. construction at the International Space Station.

“It's sad to see her land for the last time,” Kelly replied, “but she really has a great legacy.”

A considerably larger crowd gathered a few hours earlier to see Atlantis make its way to the launch pad, the last such trek ever by a shuttle. Thousands of Kennedy Space Center workers and their families lined the route Tuesday night as Atlantis crept out of the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building a little after sunset, bathed in xenon lights.

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The crew of space shuttle Endeavour, from left, European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori, of Italy, British born U.S. astronaut, pilot Greg Johnson, commander Mark Kelly, mission specialist Mike Fincke, Canadian born U.S. astronaut Greg Chamitoff and mission specialist Drew Feustel wave to space workers and media memebers after landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.