Shuttle Endeavor touches down last time

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 1 (UPI) -- The space shuttle Endeavor landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the pre-dawn touchdown Wednesday completing its final mission before retirement.

The shuttle landed at 2:35 EDT after 248 orbits around Earth and a journey of 6,510,221 miles in its the 25th and final flight, NASA said.
PHOTOS: Shuttle Endeavor completes its final mission

Endeavor has spent spent a total of 299 days in space, orbited Earth 4,671 times and traveled 122,883,151 miles.

The shuttle undocked from the International Space Station Sunday night, ending a stay of 11 days, 17 hours and 41 minutes at the orbiting laboratory to deliver an install the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

"What a great ending to this really wonderful mission," Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations said.

Speaking of the spectrometer, Gerstenmaier said, "They're getting great data from their instrument on board the space station. It couldn't have gone any better for this mission."

As Endeavor touched down, technicians were completing the task of rolling the shuttle Atlantis out to launch pad 39A and securing it to its supports there for the last launch of the entire shuttle program, set for no earlier than July 8, NASA said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/06/01/Shuttle-Endeavour-touches-down-last-time/UPI-97131306910249/.

Atlantis in place as Endeavor returns

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis was wheeled to the launch pad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center Wednesday as the shuttle Endeavor completed its final mission.

Endeavor, with six astronauts led by Navy Capt. Mark Kelly, touched down on the shuttle landing strip at 2:35 a.m. EDT, right around the time Atlantis was to reach its launch site.

The Endeavor landing was the 25th nighttime landing of a shuttle.

Atlantis, which has circled Earth more than 4,600 times, traveling more than 120 million miles in space, is expected to add 5 million more miles to its record when it makes the 135th and final mission of NASA's 30-year space shuttle program, set to begin July 8, NASA officials said.

That 12-day mission to the International Space Station will include a four-person crew -- the smallest of any shuttle mission since April 1983.

The commander is to be Christopher Ferguson, a retired U.S. Navy captain who piloted Atlantis on his first mission in September 2006, and Endeavor in November 2008. Other crew members include pilot Douglas Hurley, a U.S. Marine Corps colonel who piloted Endeavor in July 2009, mission specialist Sandra Magnus, an engineer who was part of the Discovery crew in March 2009 after spending 134 days in orbit, and mission specialist Rex Walheim, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who flew Atlantis in April 2002 and again in February 2008.

The crew is to bring cargo to the space station in the large, pressurized multipurpose logistics module Raffaello, named by the Italian Space Agency, which built it, after the Renaissance painter and architect Raffaello Sanzio -- better known as Raphael, who with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, formed the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

All Atlantis crew members have been custom-fitted for a Russian Sokol spacesuit and molded Soyuz seat liner should they have to return to Earth in a Soyuz capsule in case Atlantis can't make the re-entry and land.

Atlantis emerged, brightly lit, from the massive 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building after sunset Tuesday for the 3.4-mile journey to the Launch Complex 39, the rocket launch site originally built for the 1960s Apollo program and later modified to support shuttle operations.

It traveled to the seaside launch site on top of NASA's crawler-transporters, a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport spacecraft since Apollo days along a 100-foot-wide pathway known as the Crawlerway.

The Crawlerway was designed to support the weight of a Saturn V rocket and payload and was used since 1981 to transport the lighter shuttle to its launchpad.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/06/01/Atlantis-in-place-as-Endeavour-returns/UPI-28491306911600/.

Shuttle Endeavor prepares for final glide home

Cape Canaveral, Florida (AFP) May 31, 2011

US space shuttle Endeavor prepared for its final landing early Wednesday, becoming the second American shuttle to enter retirement as the program draws to a close after 30 years.

Endeavor and its crew of six astronauts -- five Americans and one Italian -- were to glide in for a nighttime touchdown at Florida's Kennedy Space Center at 2:35 am (0635 GMT), the US space agency NASA said on Tuesday.

The astronauts are wrapping up STS-134, a 16-day mission to the International Space Station, where they installed a $2 billion physics experiment to probe the origins of the universe, and also conducted four spacewalks.

The final flight by US shuttle Atlantis is set for July 8, and NASA planned to send the shuttle rolling out to the launch pad one last time beginning Tuesday at 8:00 pm (0000 GMT).

The event will mark a major milestone toward the end of a three-decade program of human space flight and exploration, and was expected to draw thousands of employees and media.

Meanwhile NASA interim flight director Tony Ceccacci said landing weather for Endeavor looks "very promising," and crosswinds were expected to be about 10 knots, well below the upper limit of 12 knots for a night landing.

"We are very confident that trend is going to stay the same until tomorrow," he said.

If the shuttle is unable to land at 2:35 am, a second landing opportunity would open at 4:11 am (0811 GMT).

Deorbit preparations are set to begin at 9:26 pm (0126 GMT). If NASA decides to go ahead with the landing, the shuttle commander will fire Endeavor's engines about an hour ahead of landing to allow the shuttle to fall out of orbit.

After the shuttle era, the world's astronauts will rely on Russia's space capsules for transit to the orbiting lab at a cost of $51 million per seat until a new US crew vehicle can be built by private enterprise.

NASA has estimated that a shuttle replacement could be expected sometime between 2015 and 2021.

"There is going to be a period of time when Americans aren't flying on US spacecraft, so that's a challenge," said shuttle commander Mark Kelly in an interview with US media, broadcast from space on the last day of Endeavor's mission.

"People leave, you know, engineers and operations people will move on and do other things, so it is the corporate memory that I think I am most worried about," said Kelly, 47.

"But over time, we will get the right mix of people. NASA has an incredible workforce, it is very talented and you know, from the late 1950s to today we have taken on great challenges and we have never failed."

Endeavor is the youngest of the space flying fleet, which also includes Discovery and Atlantis. Discovery retired after returning from its final mission in March.

Two of the original fleet were destroyed by explosions in flight -- Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003. A total of 14 astronauts were killed in the disasters.

Endeavor was commissioned in the wake of the Challenger explosion, and first flew to space on May 7, 1992. It is now ending its 25th mission, after amassing a total of 122.8 million miles (198 million kilometers), NASA said.

The other shuttle is Enterprise, which was a prototype that never flew in space and has long been on display in a museum outside Washington.

Endeavor's crew includes five Americans and Italian Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency.

During nearly 11 days at the space station, the crew delivered and installed the Alpha-Magnetic Spectrometer-2, which will be left at the space station to scour the universe for clues about dark matter and antimatter.

They also brought up a logistics carrier with spare parts and performed some maintenance and installation work during four spacewalks, the last to be carried out by an American shuttle crew.

A spacewalk is planned during the Atlantis mission in July but it will be done by space station crew, not astronauts who arrive aboard the US shuttle.

After the final shuttle missions, the three spacecraft in the flying fleet and the prototype Enterprise will be sent to different museums across the country.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Shuttle_Endeavour_prepares_for_final_glide_home_999.html.

Shuttle Endeavor prepares to leave space station

By Kerry Sheridan (AFP) – May 29, 2011

WASHINGTON — The US space shuttle Endeavor on Sunday prepared to undock from the International Space Station and jet back to Earth, wrapping up its final journey before entering retirement, NASA said.

Endeavor's last mission is the penultimate flight for the 30-year US shuttle program, which will end for good after the Atlantis mission to the orbiting research lab in July.

The six-member crew of the Endeavor bid farewell to three astronaut colleagues on board the space station (ISS) and closed the hatches between the shuttle and station at 7:23 am (1123 GMT), NASA said.

The astronauts were to spend the afternoon sleeping in preparation for the late night undocking set for 11:55 pm (0355 GMT), NASA said.

Endeavor's 16-day mission began with the shuttle's launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 16 and will conclude when the shuttle lands back on Earth early on June 1.

The team spent a total of 10 days, 23 hours, and 45 minutes at the space station.

During that time, the crew delivered and installed a massive physics experiment, the Alpha-Magnetic Spectrometer-2, that will be left at the space station to scour the universe for clues about dark matter and antimatter.

They also brought up a logistics carrier with spare parts for the orbiting lab and performed some maintenance and installation work during four spacewalks, the last to be done by an American shuttle crew.

A spacewalk is planned during Atlantis's mission in July but it will be done by space station crew, not astronauts who arrive aboard the US shuttle.

Endeavor is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center at 2:35 am (0635 GMT) on Wednesday, carrying its crew of five US astronauts and Italian Roberto Vittori.

The shuttle commander is Mark Kelly, whose lawmaker wife Gabrielle Giffords is recovering from a bullet wound to the head. The Arizona congresswoman was shot by a lone gunman during a meeting with local voters in January. Six people were killed.

Giffords was granted leave by her rehabilitation doctors to watch the launch from Kennedy Space Center along with other astronaut family members two weeks ago, but is not expected to return for the middle-of-the-night landing.

After the final shuttle missions, the three spacecraft in the flying fleet and the prototype Enterprise will be sent to different museums across the country.

Discovery, the oldest in the group, was the first shuttle to retire after its final journey to the ISS ended in March. Endeavor is the youngest, and flew its first space mission in 1991. STS-134 marks its 25th and final mission.

Endeavor is the sixth US space shuttle ever built, and was commissioned after the Challenger exploded in 1986.

The other original members of the fleet include Enterprise, a test model that never flew in space, and Columbia which disintegrated on its return to Earth in 2003.

A total of 14 astronauts were killed in the Columbia and Challenger disasters.

With the US shuttle program closing, the world's astronauts will rely on Russia's space capsules for transit to the ISS at a cost of $51 million per seat until a new American spacecraft can be built by private enterprise, possibly by 2015.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Endeavor blasts off on next-to-last shuttle flight

Cape Canaveral, Florida (AFP) May 16, 2011

The space shuttle Endeavor blasted off Monday toward the International Space Station on the penultimate flight for the US shuttle program.

The six-member crew of astronauts including five Americans and one Italian, Roberto Vittori, is delivering a potent physics experiment to probe the origins of the universe during the 16-day mission, which will include four spacewalks.

On a cloudy morning, as many as 500,000 onlookers crowded into coastal viewing spots in Brevard County, the area around Florida's Kennedy Space Center, with the US shuttle program set to end later this year after the final flight by Atlantis.

"This mission represents the power of teamwork, commitment and exploration," shuttle commander Mark Kelly said shortly before liftoff at 8:56 am (1256 GMT).

"It is in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop. To all the millions watching today including our spouses, children, family and friends, we thank you for your support."

US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords -- shuttle commander Kelly's wife who is recovering from a gunshot wound to her head -- watched the launch along with other astronaut spouses and family members from Kennedy Space Center.

The STS-134 mission, initially set to begin April 29, was postponed when technicians discovered a power failure in a heating line that served to prevent fuel from freezing in orbit. NASA completed exhaustive repairs last week.

Mission control in Houston described the takeoff as "a fairly routine ascent" and added "there were no anomalies discussed whatsoever on the way uphill for today's launch."

The shuttle is set to dock at the ISS Wednesday at 6:15 am (1015 GMT), and will stay there until May 30, returning to the United States on June 1, the US space agency said.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, a two-billion-dollar, 15,000 pound (7,000 kilogram) particle detector, will be left behind to scour the universe for hints of dark matter and antimatter over the next decade.

"It's a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack," said French scientist Jean-Pierre Vialle, part of the international team that worked on the AMS-02 project.

"But if we find it, it will show beyond a doubt that stars made of antimatter exist in some part of the universe. That would be a major revelation."

Giffords, who was allowed a break by her rehabilitation doctors in Houston to watch the launch, is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, after she was attacked in January during a meeting with local voters.

She and her husband swapped wedding rings before the shuttle hatch closed and the spacecraft whisked her husband into orbit, said Giffords' spokeswoman Pia Carusone.

"Mark brought her wedding ring the last two launches. This time, she wanted his."

Giffords also handwrote a note, which has been hidden on the shuttle for her husband to read later, and Kelly brought along a photograph of the two of them.

The 30-year US space shuttle program formally ends later this year with the flight of Atlantis, leaving Russia's space capsules as the sole option for world astronauts heading to and from the orbiting research lab.

Endeavor's delay has pushed back Atlantis' planned liftoff from June 28 to mid-July, but no final date has been set.

After the final shuttle missions, the three spacecraft in the flying fleet and the prototype Enterprise will be sent to different museums across the country.

Discovery, the oldest in the group, was the first shuttle to retire after its final journey to the ISS ended in March. Endeavor is the youngest, and flew its first space mission in 1991. STS-134 marks its 25th and final mission.

Endeavor is the sixth US space shuttle ever built, and was commissioned after the Challenger exploded in 1986.

The other original members of the fleet include Enterprise, a prototype that never flew in space, and Columbia which disintegrated on its return to Earth in 2003.

A total of 14 astronauts were killed in the Columbia and Challenger disasters.

With the US shuttle program closing, the world's astronauts will rely on Russia's space capsules for transit to the ISS at a cost of $51 million per seat until a new American spacecraft can be built by private enterprise, possibly by 2015.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Endeavour_blasts_off_on_next-to-last_shuttle_flight_999.html.

Endeavor flies to ISS for the last time

Bonn, Germany (SPX) May 17, 2011

On 16 May 2011 at 08:56 EDT (14:56 CEST), Space Shuttle Endeavor lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) on the penultimate shuttle mission (STS-134) to the International Space Station (ISS). On board are the commander Mark Kelly, pilot Gregory H. Johnson, mission specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori.

Endeavor is carrying the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and the external carrier platform 'EXPRESS Logistic Carrier 3' to the ISS. The AMS is equipped with several particle detectors that will investigate cosmic radiation. The task of the magnetic spectrometer is to explore fundamental questions about the origin, matter and structure of the Universe.

DLR's Space Administration is supporting significant participation by German scientists in the AMS experiment with funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (Bundesministerium fur Wirtschaft und Technologie; BMWi) to the amount of ten million Euro.

In Germany, the Institute of Physics at RWTH Aachen University and the Institute of Experimental Nuclear Physics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie; KIT) are responsible for the Transition Radiation Detector, components of the particle tracker and a lateral particle shield.

Staff at DLR's German Space Operations Center (GSOC) in Oberpfaffenhofen will work closely with the shuttle and the ISS crews during the mission. They will support the crew as they work in the station's European Columbus module - such as when they are replacing a disk drive in one of the experiments.

In advance of the shuttle's arrival, GSOC engineers together with the ISS astronauts have already removed parts from an ESA experiment rack. These will be brought back to Earth by Endeavor for repair.

Also on board Endeavor is a sample container with spores of the microorganism 'Bacillus subtilis MW01' from the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne. "These are descendants of the space-proven bacterium Bacillus subtilis, which we bred for the space experiment ADAPT and the Phobos Grunt mission to Mars' moon. Phobos Grunt is scheduled for launch later in 2011.

Now, around 100 million of these tiny and very resistant life forms are flying on Endeavor in order to temporarily subject them to the conditions in low Earth orbit. The samples will remain aboard the shuttle and will not be taken onto the ISS," said DLR researcher Wassmann Marko, who grew the bacteria.

The planned duration of mission STS-134 is 16 days and ends with the return of the Endeavor on 1 June 2011. It is the 235th Shuttle flight, the 25th use of the Endeavor and the penultimate flight of the NASA Space Shuttle program.

Four spacewalks are planned - the last ones scheduled in the space shuttle era. Mission specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff and Andrew Feustel will be working in teams of two during extravehicular activities on 20, 22, 24 and 26 May, performing maintenance and installing new experiments.

The last space shuttle mission, STS-135 with the shuttle Atlantis, is scheduled for launch on 28 June 2011.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Endeavour_flies_to_ISS_for_the_last_time_999.html.

Endeavor poised for next-to-last US shuttle flight

Cape Canaveral, Florida (AFP) May 15, 2011

NASA Sunday readied the space shuttle Endeavor for its final mission with liftoff set for 8:56 am (1256 GMT) Monday on the next-to-last flight for the American shuttle program.

Engineers were optimistic that the repaired shuttle would be able to fly on its 16-day mission to the International Space Station, after a technical glitch postponed its attempt last month.

"The updated forecast Sunday for Monday's launch of the shuttle Endeavor remains unchanged with a 70 percent chance of good weather," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told AFP.

The initial April 29 launch attempt was scrubbed hours before liftoff when technicians discovered a power failure in a heating line that served to prevent fuel from freezing in orbit.

The six-member crew of astronauts including five Americans and one Italian, Roberto Vittori, will deliver a potent physics experiment to probe the origins of the universe during the mission, which will include four spacewalks.

The final rollback of the massive service structure around the shuttle was completed at 12:24 pm Sunday, marking the last major movement on launchpad 39A before the spacecraft is loaded with crew for take off.

The astronauts were to begin their sleeping shift at 4:00 pm before awakening at midnight to do final medical checks, eat a meal and board the shuttle.

A meeting of NASA managers will take place at 11:00 pm (0300 GMT Monday) to decide whether to give a "go" to the fueling operations, which would then start at 11:36 pm Sunday night (0336 GMT Monday) in anticipation of the early morning launch.

The key mission of Endeavor's trip to the orbiting research lab is to deliver a massive physics experiment, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, which will be left behind to scour the universe for hints of dark matter and antimatter.

US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, the wife of shuttle commander Mark Kelly, arrived safely in Florida after traveling there with family of another astronaut and will watch the launch from Kennedy Space Center, her office said.

"Thanks to NASA for great fly by of launch pad," said a status update on her Facebook page.

Giffords, who was allowed a break by her rehabilitation doctors in Houston to watch the planned April 29 launch, was shot in the head in January during a meeting with local voters.

The 30-year US space shuttle program formally ends later this year after the last flight of Atlantis, leaving Russia's space capsules as the sole option for world astronauts heading to and from the orbiting research lab.

Endeavor's delay has pushed back Atlantis's planned liftoff from June 28 to mid-July, but no final date has been set.

After the final shuttle missions, the three spacecraft in the flying fleet and the prototype Enterprise will be sent to different museums across the country.

Discovery, the oldest in the group, was the first shuttle to retire after its last journey to the ISS ended in March. Endeavor is the youngest, and flew its first space mission in 1991.

With US shuttle program closing, the world's astronauts will rely on Russia's space capsules for transit to the ISS at a cost of 51 million dollars per seat until a new American spacecraft can be built by private enterprise, possibly by 2015.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Endeavour_poised_for_next-to-last_US_shuttle_flight_999.html.

Endeavor makes nighttime touchdown

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The space shuttle Endeavor made a rare nighttime return to Earth Sunday, landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:20 p.m. EST, NASA said.

The shuttle completed a two-week mission during which its crew delivered the final U.S. module and a "room with a view" to the International Space Station, the U.S. space agency said.

Shuttle Commander George Zamka, pilot Terry Virts and Mission Specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken delivered more than 36,000 pounds of hardware to the space station, including the Tranquility Node 3 and a cupola that provides a 360-degree view through seven windows, NASA said.

Behnken and Patrick conducted three spacewalks during the mission.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/02/21/Endeavour-makes-nighttime-touchdown/UPI-56351266814365/.

Shuttle leaves station as NASA plans last flights

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida), Feb 20 (Reuters) - The space shuttle Endeavor sailed away from the International Space Station on Friday after delivering a final connecting hub and an observation deck, completing U.S. assembly of the orbital complex.

Four more shuttle missions remain to stock the station and deliver science experiments before NASA retires its three-ship fleet later this year. The station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations, has been under construction 220 miles (352 km) above Earth since 1998.

With pilot Terry Virts at the controls, Endeavor departed the station at 7:54 p.m. EST (0054 GMT on Saturday), 10 days after arriving with the Tranquility connecting hub and the dome-shaped cupola, which is outfitted with seven windows to provide a nearly 360-degree view outside the station.

The new rooms were hooked up during three spacewalks by Endeavor astronauts Robert Benhken and Nicholas Patrick.

"It's so hard to put into words the view that we see out those beautiful seven windows," crewmate Kay Hire said during an in-flight press conference. "It's comparing a black-and-white analogue picture to a super high-def color picture. It's just phenomenal."

NASA extended Endeavor's stay at the station a day to give the station crew more help setting up equipment inside Tranquility, which will serve as a second living module.

A toilet, water recycling system, oxygen generator, air scrubber and exercise gear already have been relocated into the new hub. NASA still is struggling to get the water purification system working, however, and has told the station crew to only use the Russian toilet until further notice.

The water recycling system collects urine, condensate and other wastewater and turns it into potable water for drinking and cooking. With the shuttle missions ending due to safety concerns and high operating costs, the station will have to become much more reliant on reusing its water.

Russian, European and Japanese cargo ships will keep the station resupplied but none have the lift capacity of the shuttle, nor its ability to produce water -- a byproduct of the electrical system -- in orbit.

NASA already has turned over crew transport to Russia and plans to invest $6 billion in the next five years in commercial U.S. firms, hoping to spark development of orbital passenger spaceflight services.

The agency also announced this week it plans to spend $75 million over the next five years for commercial suborbital spaceflights for science experiments and educational payloads.

Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, debuted its first passenger spaceship in December. At least four other firms are working on suborbital ships for tourists, researchers and businesses.

Endeavor and its six-member crew, which also includes commander George Zamka and flight engineer Stephen Robinson, are due back at the Kennedy Space Center at 10:16 p.m. EST on Sunday (0316 GMT on Monday).

© REUTERS 2010

Source: Bernama.
Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=476643.

Space shuttle Endeavor pulls in at space station

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Shuttle Endeavor arrived to a warm welcome at the International Space Station early Wednesday, delivering a new room and observation deck that will come close to completing construction 200 miles above Earth.

The midnight rendezvous occurred as the two spacecraft sailed over the Atlantic, just west of Portugal. It took longer than normal to lock the shuttle and station together because of the relative motion between the two. The space station's five residents filled the time, before their guests came aboard, by trying out camera angles and interviewing one another.

"What are you expecting from the shuttle?" Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi asked Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev. "My cucumbers," Suraev replied, getting a big laugh.

The two crews shook hands and embraced when the hatches finally opened, greeting each other with "good to see you" and "how goes it" while floating inside the space station.

Space station commander Jeffrey Williams said he was happy to see his friends — "really happy because we haven't seen many people other than the crew for a long time."

The shuttle's six astronauts were impressed with what they saw.

"We couldn't believe how spectacular and shiny the space station was," said Endeavor's commander, George Zamka.

Back at Mission Control, NASA said that standard checks hadn't revealed any launch damage so far. All the pictures and information collected during the first two days of the flight indicate Endeavor suffered no serious damage during Monday's liftoff. But the analysis is continuing, and a few hundred photos taken from the space station during Endeavor's final approach will yield additional data, said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.

Endeavor's crew will spend more than a week at the space station, installing the compartments — worth about $400 million — and helping with space station maintenance.

This represents the last major construction work at the orbiting outpost. Once the room, named Tranquility, and the observation deck are in place, the station will be 98 percent complete.

Before docking, Zamka guided Endeavor through a 360-degree back flip so two of the space station crew could photograph the shuttle's belly with zoom lenses. The photos were transmitted immediately to Mission Control so experts can scour the images for any scrapes or holes.

A few pieces of foam insulation came off the external fuel tank during the launch, but none appeared to strike Endeavor.

The only oddity in the pictures from orbit was a protruding seal on the top of the left wing. The seal is part of a door for an access panel; about 4 inches of the 2- to 3-foot seal is sticking out.

Cain said the flapping seal poses no concern, but engineers will look into the matter to find out how it happened. Mission Control asked the station crew to take pictures of the seal, as the shuttle performed its somersault.

As for the rest of the wings and nose — the most vulnerable parts of the shuttle during re-entry — the laser inspection conducted earlier in the day by the astronauts was coming up empty. "Nothing that threw any unusual flags for us," Cain told reporters late Tuesday afternoon.

The rigorous checks were put in place following the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Three spacewalks are planned to hook up the 23-foot Tranquility — named after the Apollo 11 moon landing site — and the seven-windowed dome. The first will get under way Thursday night.

Both compartments were built in Italy for the European Space Agency. Tranquility cost $380 million and the lookout $27 million.

Endeavor arrives at space station with picture window

Washington - The space shuttle Endeavor arrived at the International Space Station Wednesday, bringing a new room and a picture window that are to be installed on the station during three spacewalks on the shuttle's 13-day mission. Endeavor, which blasted off from Florida before dawn Monday, docked at the space station at 0506 GMT.

Endeavor's six-member crew brought along the Tranquility node, which is to make the orbiting space lab 90-per-cent complete. The Italian-made addition is designed as a connecting element that is to also provide the station's permanent crew with more space as well as house life-support and environmental control systems, a treadmill and other equipment.

Tranquility includes a six-window viewing area that would give astronauts a panoramic look at Earth, the station and visiting spacecraft. It would allow astronauts to operate robotic controls and get a 360-degree view like a crane operator sitting in a cabin.

The mission is the first of the year for a nearly 29-year-old space shuttle program that is to be mothballed in September. The Endeavor's current mission is to be followed by four more shuttle flights to complete construction of the space station.

Endeavor was scheduled to return to Earth on February 20.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308425,endeavour-arrives-at-space-station-with-picture-window.html.

Endeavor heads for space station with picture window - Summary

Washington - The space shuttle Endeavor lit up the Florida coast before dawn Monday as it blasted off for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The 1014 GMT start was the final night-time launch for the aging shuttle fleet, which is to be mothballed later this year.

Endeavor is carrying a six-window viewing area that will give astronauts a panoramic look at Earth, the station and visiting spacecraft.

Endeavor's 13-day mission will carry the Tranquility node to the ISS, making the orbiting space lab 90-per-cent complete. It is to dock with the ISS Wednesday at 0509 GMT.

The Italian-made addition is designed as a connecting element that will also provide ISS's permanent crew with more space and house life support and environmental control systems, a treadmill and other equipment.

"It was an important event," Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director general, said of the launch. "Even more important for us because the shuttle was full of European hardware."

Perhaps the most anticipated part of Tranquility is the cupola that it will attach to the station. The six-windowed space will allow astronauts to operate robotic controls and get a 360-degree view, like a crane operator sitting in a cabin.

It will be the largest window ever flown into space and is made of specially equipped glass that protects crew from solar radiation. The view will allow scientific observations and provide long-term astronauts with a much-need glimpse of home.

The windows come equipped with shutters to protect them from passing space debris and will be closed when not in use. The panes are designed to be replaced in space if need be.

The launch marks the beginning of the end of NASA's nearly 29- year-old space shuttle program, which is scheduled to be mothballed in September. Endeavor will be followed by just four more shuttle flights to complete construction of the ISS.

In 2010 NASA will say goodbye to the shuttle program as each craft takes its final flight. The US space agency decided to retire the aging fleet after the shuttle Columbia disintegrated when re- entering Earth's atmosphere in 2003, but first used the craft to complete construction of the ISS.

The large shuttles are the only existing spacecraft large enough to haul pieces of the station into orbit.

NASA had planned to replace the shuttle with next generation Orion spacecraft that were a throwback to the Apollo program of the 1960s, but President Barack Obama last week scrubbed the so-called Constellation program from his budget.

Instead, he devoted 6 billion dollars over five years to encouraging commercial firms to ferry astronauts into orbit in what would essentially be a space taxi service.

The United States will be reliant on Russian Soyuz craft to take US astronauts into space until an alternative is ready to fly.

Three spacewalks are planned to install and outfit Tranquility.

Endeavor is scheduled to return to Earth on February 20.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308124,endeavour-heads-for-space-station-with-picture-window--summary.html.

Endeavor to deliver Space Station 'a room with a view'

Space shuttle Endeavor will bring a new seven-window module to the International Space Station. It'll be used as a utility room for air and water purification and for exercise equipment. It'll also give astronauts a spectacular view of Earth and space.

By Peter N. Spotts - Staff writer

After years of construction, the International Space Station is about to get a room with a spectacular view.

At 4:39 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Sunday, NASA is set to launch the space shuttle Endeavor and its six-member crew on a mission to deliver the final US components – made in Europe – to the orbiting lab: Node 3, named Tranquility, and a seven-window cupola for the node, which will give crewmembers breathtaking views of Earth and space.

Much of the module will act as the station's utility room, housing equipment that reprocesses urine to extract drinking water, scrubs carbon dioxide from the station's air, and process other crew waste. It also will become the final home for exercise equipment, including COLBERT, the exercise station whose acronym is a nod to Stephen Colbert, host of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

Astronauts will make three space walks

During three spacewalks, the shuttle crew will install the node, connect it to the station's cooling system, and install the cupola. Astronauts also are looking to help repair the station's balky urine-purification system, as well as deliver supplies.

But the star of the module remains the cupola and its windows. NASA has dubbed it the station's "control tower," allowing crew members inside to help guide spacewalks and robotic-arm activities outside. But for crewmembers on orbit, it also carries a significant quality-of-life aspect, managers acknowledge.

Much of the time, the windows' protective covers will be closed to avoid damage from space junk or micrometeoroids. In addition, the shutters help keep the windows out of direct sunlight, where constant cycling between heat and cold would weaken their seals.

But the cupola, mounted on the earthward side of Tranquility, can be used for smell-the-roses moments or as the view to exercise, particularly the windows looking straight down or toward the trailing segments of the station, where orbital-debris strikes are far less likely.

Installing and activated the cupola is one of the mission's high points – even for the shuttle crew. Crew members won't be able to open the windows' protective shutters until late in the mission. But when that happens, it will be an oooh-and-ah moment. It will give station crew members the kind of view usually reserved for spacewalkers.

"We will definitely be bringing along some still cameras as well as video cameras to try to capture those views as best we can," says mission specialist Kathryn Hire. "But I can guarantee you, we can provide high-definition pictures, but it's still not like the real thing – being there and having the full expanse laid out in front of you."
Budget crunch for NASA?

The launch comes at a time of heightened angst within NASA.

Last week the Obama administration sent to Congress a budget that cancels the Constellation program. The program not only was well along in developing a replacement for the shuttle to ferry crews to the space station. Over the long term, it aimed to provide a more powerful rocket to carry crew or cargo to destinations more distant than the station's home in low-Earth orbit, initially to the moon.

But the administration's budget proposal – which envisions the agency's budget growing by $6 billion over the next five years – cancels Constellation in favor of launch cargo and astronauts to the station in rockets built by companies with private, rather than federal dollars. Instead the agency would focus on developing technologies that would lead to so-called heavy-lift rockets that would allow for human missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

The budget plan also extends US participation in the station out to 2020, five years longer than the Constellation program envisioned.

Despite the uncertainty, mission managers say their team remains focused on the success of this flight.

"There are a few folks reeling from the shock," acknowledged Michael Moses, the shuttle payload integration manager, during a pre-launch briefing on Friday. But, he added, "the team here is very focused on this mission…. If we can't do what we're doing on Sunday right, then there really is no future for any of the spaceflight programs or the ISS. So we've got to get this launch done."

The launch is the final night launch in the shuttle program, which has four flights left on the schedule after this one. Weather permitting, the orbiter's rise should be visible along the East Coast until main-engine cutoff roughly eight minutes after launch.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor.
Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0206/Endeavour-to-deliver-Space-Station-a-room-with-a-view.

Shuttle Endeavour readied for a space trip

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- NASA says Kennedy Space Center technicians are testing space shuttle Endeavour's systems, preparing for its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Endeavour's move from the Orbiter Processing Facility is scheduled Dec. 12, but before that can happen, the shuttle's environmental control and life support systems, main engine and aerosurface hydraulics must be checked, NASA said. Technicians also will test and calibrate the system that provides navigational information for the shuttle while it's in orbit.

While the testing is under way, Endeavour's STS-130 astronauts ‪are practicing integrated launch simulations at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station, with Terry Virts serving as the shuttle's pilot. The STS-130 astronauts are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space.

The space agency said Endeavour will deliver a third connecting module, the Tranquility node, to the ISS, in addition to the seven-windowed Cupola module that will be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.

Liftoff from the space center in Florida is scheduled for Feb. 4 at 5:52 a.m. EST.