Endeavour is set to make a trip to the International Space Station Friday evening. Weather is looking better for liftoff at 7:55PM EST - possibly the last night launch of the Shuttle program. NASA reports:
The Mission Ahead
Image above: The Leonardo cargo module has been loaded with more than 14,000 pounds of equipment and supplies for the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
› View Hi-res Image
› Submit your comments on STS-126The flight of space shuttle Endeavour includes several significant steps to install new crew equipment inside the International Space Station and service the solar array joints of the laboratory. During STS-126, the crew of space shuttle Endeavour and the space station will:
– Exchange crew members. Sandra Magnus will swap places with current station resident Greg Chamitoff.
– Conduct four spacewalks. Working in teams of two, astronauts will emerge from the space station’s Quest airlock and work on the two large joints that turn the station’s massive solar array “wings.” They are to service the starboard side joint and perform preventative maintenance on the port side joint.
– Install new crew quarters, a galley, waste water recycling system and oxygen generator inside the space station. The equipment has been packed inside refrigerator-sized racks that require forklifts to lift them on Earth. But in space, a single astronaut can move a rack around with little problem.
Endeavour and its crew are to land at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after 15 days in space.
Additional Resources
› STS-126 Press Kit (4.5 Mb PDF)
› STS-126 Mission Summary (475 kb PDF)
› About the Crew
› Shuttle Launch Manifest
› Weather around KSC
› Weather Criteria for Launch (2.27Mb pdf)
Preflight pics are up at the JSC Gallery. More preflight pics and video at KSC. Discussion here. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.