US space shuttle leaves orbit for Florida landing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., March 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour left orbit on Wednesday and began an hour-long glide back to Florida to complete a 16-day mission that delivered part of a Japanese laboratory to space.

Touchdown is scheduled for 8:39 p.m. EDT (0039 GMT on Thursday) at the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle crew added a storage room for Japan's Kibo lab to the International Space Station and assembled a Canadian-made robot to help with maintenance. (Reporting by Irene Klotz, editing by Jim Loney and Michael Christie)