Space Station Crew Busy, Endeavour at Edwards

Space Station today at 11:50 am ET - Progress & Soyuz

Orbiter Endeavour continues to be serviced following her Sunday landing at Edwards, AFB in California, and will prepare for her cross-country flight beginning next week.

On Tuesday, about 200 of Kennedy Space Center's finest will arrive at Edwards to assist in the rollover to the mate/demate device which will allow Endeavour to be hoisted atop a modified Boeing 747 aircraft for the ferry flight.

Currently, they have targeted December 8 for the trip home to KSC to begin. Endeavour should be fully atop the 747 on Saturday.

Endeavour's STS-126 flight crew will depart Edwards this afternoon for the trip home to Ellington Airfield and a grand welcome by family, friends and coworkers.

Meanwhile aboard the international space station, crew members of Commander Mike Fincke, Yury Lonchakov and Sandy Magnus are spending this morning working on experiments with the ground; Finke performed a HAM radio chat with a school in India; Magnus [above] checked family e-mails; and at 12 noon EST, Magnus began a private medical conference on air to ground two.