LOS ANGELES – Space shuttle Endeavour returned to its California roots Thursday after a wistful cross-country journey that paid homage to NASA workers and former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her astronaut husband.

“That’s my spaceship,” said Endeavour’s last commander, Mark Kelly, as the couple watched the shuttle loop over Tucson, Ariz.

Later in the day, the 747 jet carrying Endeavour swooped out of the desert sky and glided down a concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base, 100 miles north of Los Angeles, not far from where the now-retired shuttle fleet was assembled.