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Shuttle Atlantis inches to her launch pad tonight. (NASA)
Atlantis' crew of commander Christopher J. Ferguson, pilot Douglas G. Hurley and mission specialists Sandra H. Magnus and Rex J. Walheim will return to Kennedy on June 20 to begin several days of launch pad training, wrapping up with a practice countdown three days later.Launch of NASA's 135th space shuttle flight is planned for no earlier than July 8 at 11:38:20 a.m., on a two week voyage to the International Space Station.Since this is the final shuttle flight ever, NASA has worked out plans with Russia in the event the orbiter is damaged during flight and cannot return home.Atlantis' four person crew would stay aboard the space station and
one by one come home with a landing in Kazakhstan during a Soyuz TMA's planned return.Thus, the four astronauts would land three months after the first lands, and this plan will bring the last crew mate home nearly a year after Atlantis' launch. This is of course a worst case scenario.
Meanwhile, 220 miles above earth Atlantis' sister ship Endeavour is hours away from concluding her final space flight on Wednesday at 2:35 a.m., just as Atlantis is nearing her launch pad.
The space shuttle stack is expected to arrive a top her launch pad at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
The crew of shuttle Endeavour continue to move the orbiter away from the International Space Station today, and prepare for their Florida homecoming early on Wednesday.The final space flight of Endeavour is set to conclude at the Kennedy Space Center with a landing in the Florida darkness and onto a three mile runway located in the middle of a wildlife refuge.Endeavour's twenty-fifth flight will wrap up sixteen days in space, including 12 busy days docked to the space station, and will have made 249 orbits of the earth as the spacecraft glides home.Endeavour's commander Mark Kelly and pilot Greg Johnson will begin to break Endeavour out of earth orbit at 1:30 a.m. EDT on June 1, and aim for a main gear touch down upon runway 15 at 2:35 a.m.California's Edwards AFB will not be called up to support a Wednesday landing, however the desert runway will be called up in the event landing is delay one day to Thursday.NASA on Sunday released the landing ground tracks for the first opportunity. A second opportunity exists for a target touchdown into Kennedy at 4:11 a.m.
The concern for wind gusts and crosswinds over the runway may be of concern as the Air Force meteorology group predicts gusts of 20 m.p.h. at landing. Scattered clouds and a temperature of 74 degrees is also forecast.
Endeavour makes her way around the space station today. (NASA)
Station soars 650 feet from Endeavour today over China. (NASA) in front of the station.
The shuttle then fired her jets to begin separating away and move out to a distance of 22,400 feet above and behind the complex.Once at this distance, Kelly then fired the shuttle's jets once again at 2:40 a.m. to move Endeavour out to a distance of 30,000 feet.
A half hour later, the crew performed a mid-course correction burn to began the re-rendezvous maneuver to test America's next generation of navigational aides in space.Endeavour then crossed into the minus V(elocity) Bar as the craft slowed down, reaching a peak distance of 29,969 feet at 3:03 a.m. before beginning to re-rendezvous.Known as STORRM (Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation), this new navigation is tested for use in the upcoming Orion-styled Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
The multi-equipment setup for STORRM navigation includes a laptop on the flight deck, a sensor on the shuttle's port payload bay wall and a high def camera.It is this docking camera which the crew will be unable to use due to an overheat of an electronics board which operates the system.The space laboratory -- 357 feet from end to end along the Truss structure -- will see the final space shuttle arrival about July 10.
Shuttle and station crews gather one last time today. (NASA)
"We're looking forward to getting home and we're gonna leave these guys to some peace and quiet and not disturb their space station any more," Kelly said during opening remarks during the brief ceremony.
Kelly also remembered the veterans who have lost their life to recent wars during the farewell ceremony.
"On this Memorial Day weekend, I would also like to say that as a crew we're thinking of the veterans out there that have lost their lives in wars and more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it's really important for the American people to honor those folks over this weekend and particularly tomorrow on Monday," Kelly pointed out before turning the radio mic over to Garan.
"It was really great seeing you guys. It was great spending time on an incredible orbital complex. We were just in awe of the finely oiled machine that is STS-134... it was great EVA's, great robotics, great transfer (and) AMS being installed," Garan summed up to the departing crew of six astronauts.
"We want to thank you and the entire STS-134 mission team for leaving the space station ready for it's continued utilization for at least the next decade. You really left us in good shape and it was really a big success and proud to be and have a small part of it," Garan added.
Borisenko thanked the visiting crew on their work, and then he and the crews exchanged hugs and handshakes before Endeavour's crew of Kelly, pilot Greg Johnson and mission specialists Mike Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency floated through the airlock and into their awaiting shuttle.The hatches were officially closed at 7:23 am EDT, ten days, 23 hours & 45 minutes after the hatches were opened.Endeavour docked to the space station over eleven days ago, and delivered an international experiment designed to study cosmic rays and dark matter in the universe from outside the complex; a platform loaded with experiments and spare hardware; and fresh supplies and water for the station's crew.Endeavour's crew will head to sleep at about 11:30 a.m. this morning and awaken eight hours later to prepare for tonight's undocking at 11:55 p.m.One of the highlights following the shuttle's fly around of the space station by Johnson will be the reapproach by Endeavour to the complex to test new orbital navigation equipment.Known as the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation, or STORRM, Endeavour will perform a separation burn following the fly around, and later will begin to test a next generation aide in navigating and docking in orbit by the future Orion spacecraft.
Endeavour will move about 19,000 feet away from the orbiting complex before using STORRM to close back in to a range of about 600 feet.Earlier in their day, Saturday night Eastern Time, Kelly was notified that a portion of STORRM had failed and could not be recovered.The multi-equipment setup for STORRM navigation includes a laptop on the flight deck, a sensor on the shuttle's port payload bay wall and a high def camera.It is this docking camera which the crew will be unable to use due to an overheat of an electronics board which operates the system.However, as Endeavour sails upon the ocean of space near her port-of-call, her tests with STORRM will pave the way for the next craft used for American spaceflight.
Shuttle Endeavour's right wing during her final space flight. (NASA)
The crew of six will say their goodbyes on Sunday morning to the station's crew of three, which includes station commander and Russian cosmonaut Andrey I. Borisenko, NASA astronaut Ron Garan and cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev.
The two crews will then close the three hatches leading between shuttle and station at about 7:10 a.m. EDT.
Endeavour is due to depart the space station for the twelfth and final time of her storied career on Sunday at 11:55 p.m., and then slowly travel out to a distance of about 400 feet.Pilot Johnson will then begin flying Endeavour as he takes the orbiter on a 360-degree lap from above the space station nearly thirty minutes after undocking.Endeavour will then perform a separation burn following the flyaround, and several minutes later will begin to test a next generation aide in navigating and docking in orbit by the future Orion spacecraft.
The Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation, or STORRM, can operate from three miles away to up to just five feet from the space station's docking target.
"Once we undock and separate from space station, we will re-rendezvous on a different type of profile to gather more data and be somewhat more similar to what Orion would do during a space station approach," Kelly explained several days before launch.
A second separation burn will move the spacecraft further out to a distance of about 18,000 feet before Kelly and pilot Johnson begin to reapproach the football field size complex again -- a first in the shuttle program.
Using a sensor in the shuttle's payload bay and a high-def camera tied to a laptop computer on the shuttle's flight deck, commander Kelly will guide Endeavour on a reapproach to the space station to test STORRM.
Two and one-half hours following undocking, Endeavour will begin a series of burns to close in using the advanced sensor system, while the space station is positioned for the test.
"The STORRM test will greatly enhance our knowledge of advanced laser-based navigation sensor technologies," manager Howard Hu of Orion system performance and analysis at the Johnson Space Center said. It will "provide safer and more robust rendezvous and docking capabilities for future spacecraft.”Commander Kelly will perform the final separation burn at about 4:35 a.m. on Monday, to begin Endeavour's two day voyage home -- her final days sailing upon the ocean of space.Endeavour is set to land at the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle landing facility's runway 15/33 on Wednesday at 2:35 a.m.
Spacewalker Mike Fincke photographed the Cupola today. (NASA)
Since 1998, American, Russian, Canadian, European and Japanese astronauts have now spent 1,002 hours and 37 minutes of spacewalking time outside the station.Today's spacewalk was also the final spacewalk performed by a space shuttle crew.All future spacewalks will be performed by space station astronauts, including the single orbital walk planned during shuttle Atlantis' flight in July.
Also later today at 8:00 p.m., Fincke will become the American astronaut with the most time spent in space as he surpasses his boss Peggy Whitson's 377 days in space.
Whitson serves as the Chief of the Astronaut Corps at the Johnson Space Center.
Fincke served two six month tours aboard the station in 2004 and 2009, the later as the commander.
His two previous space flights ended with landings in Kazakhstan aboard Russian Soyuz spacecrafts. This flight aboard Endeavour is his first space shuttle flight.
Astronauts perform the third spacewalk aboard space station. (NASA)
The astronauts will mark the start of the 1,000th hour of spacewalking work outside the space station at 5:33 a.m. based on an on time start to the 'walk.Friday's final spacewalk of Endeavour's mission will also be the last by space shuttle astronauts in the program's thirty year history.The first space shuttle spacewalk occurred on the first flight of Challenger in April 1983.The next and final space shuttle flight will be flown by Atlantis on STS-135, and her crew of four will not perform a spacewalk.One walk in space is planned during Atlantis' visit, however it will be performed by space station astronauts.
Also on Friday morning, Fincke will become the American astronaut with the most time spent in space as he surpasses the current Chief of the Astronaut Corps Peggy Whitson's 377 days.
The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle during construction. (Lockheed)
Cooke then added later that the first crewed flight would occur no earlier than 2016.
"We are committed to human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and look forward to developing the next generation of systems to take us there," NASA administrator Charlie Bolden said in a statement.MPCV is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. in Colorado, the module will have a separate service module which will be jettisoned prior to it's return to earth. NASA states "this module can also transport unpressurized cargo and scientific payloads" during flights.
"The NASA Authorization Act lays out a clear path forward for us by handing off transportation to the International Space Station to our private sector partners, so we can focus on deep space exploration," Bolden continued. "As we aggressively continue our work on a heavy lift launch vehicle, we are moving forward with an existing contract to keep development of our new crew vehicle on track."The crewed vehicle -- which will have a mass of around 23 tons -- will launch on a heavy-lift rocket toward a destination past the space station and beyond low earth orbit to the moon.The spacecraft is based on designs and testing of the Orion craft going back to 2005, and on the Apollo spacecrafts of the 1960's and 70's.The spacecraft would land much like the Apollo modules with a Pacific Ocean splashdown near the coastline of California.Today's announcement comes fifty years after President John F. Kennedy's "We choose to go to the Moon" speech at Rice University in September 1961.
Russian craft soars near shuttle Endeavour tonight. (NASA)
to record
the massive complex.The space station then began it's 120-degree motion to allow the Italian astronaut to shoot incredible images and record high def video of the shuttle-station complex.
Firing it's thrusters to stay stable, the photography from Soyuz occurred as the two spacecraft's soared 222 miles high along the Northern Pacific Ocean near the west coast of North America, and later south toward central Chile.
As Nespoli took images, Coleman reminded him not to forget to take video of the one million pound orbiting complex.
Kondratyev and Nespoli exchanged several comments on the beauty of the space station with the earth nearby.The Soyuz TMA 20 is a three section spacecraft which includes the crew compartment, the descent module and the propulsion and instrumentation module which also includes the twin solar arrays. The middle module is the only section which re-enter's atmosphere and lands.Soyuz fired it's separation thrusters at 6:15 p.m. to move away from the space station, and begin it's return to earth three hours later.Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli lifted-off from Kazakhstan on December 15, and concluded 159 days in space tonight.
NASA's space shuttle mission managers on Saturday cleared several small nicks to the tiles on the belly of Endeavour, allowing the craft to land on June 1.Earlier in the day today, shuttle astronauts Roberto Vittori and Drew Feustel used the space stations robotic arm to grapple the the orbiter boom sensor on the shuttle's payload sill. They then lifted the boom into a position to allow for the shuttle's fifty foot arm to then grapple the boom extension so that a detailed inspection of a specific tile could be performed.
Stretching down underneath the over side of the port side of Endeavour, the shuttle's arm with the boom extension attached began taking focused images (right) of the region.Today's focused inspection gave mission managers a high quality, 3-D view of the damaged section.The damaged tile in question, located on the ship's belly between the right landing door and the external tank door, did not pose as much of a threat for burn through as the shuttle hits reentry during landing, allowing for hot gases to enter the ship's aft compartment and payload bay.Meanwhile, two astronauts slept in the space station's Quest airlock tonight, prebreathing an oxygen rich atmosphere in preparation for the second spacewalk of Endeavour's flight.Astronauts Feustel and Mike Fincke will begin their spacewalk at 2:16 a.m. EDT on Sunday, and leave the station's airlock to begin six hours of work outside. The duo will begin rerouting cables to allow for coolant flow from the Port 1 Truss segment of the station over to the Port 6 segment. The pair will refill cooling lines with ammonia, and later vent several lines of any remaining ammonia.Fincke will then move over to the Port 3 segment and the Solar Alpha Rotary joint and add extra lubrication to the left side of the rotary joint; install a camera cover on the robot, DEXTRE, and lubricate it's grapple snares; and install stowage beams on the Starboard 1 Truss.
Pope Benedict XVI address the space station crews today. (Vatican)
Rep. Giffords was shot in the head in January during an attempt on her life at a Tucson shopping center. She has recovered enough which allowed for her to travel to Florida to attend her husband's shuttle launch last Monday.The twenty minute conversation was filled with emotion and questions about the earth from space.Pope Benedict spoke to the crew, "From the space station, you have a very different view of the earth. You fly over different continents and nations several times a day. I think it must be obvious to you how observed to you how we all live together on one Earth and how absurd it is that we fight and kill each one."His Holiness then addressed Kelly and spoke of his wife, "I know that Mark Kelly's wife was a victim of a serious attack and I hope her health continues to improve. When you're contemplating the Earth from up there, so you ever wonder about the way nations and people live together down here, about how science can contribute to the cause of peace?"
Kelly then addressed the Pope, "Thank you for the kind words, your Holiness, and thank you for mentioning my wife, Gabby," Kelly replied. "It's a very good question. We fly over most of the world and you don't see borders, but at the same time we realize that people fight with each other and there's a lot of violence in this world and it's really an unfortunate thing."The Pope spoke in Italian to station astronaut Paolo Nespoli who's mother passed away on May 2, "Dear Paolo, I know that a few days ago your mom left you and in a few days you will come back home and you will not find her waiting for you," the pope said in translated remarks. "We're all close to you. Me too, I have prayed for her. How have you been living through this time of pain on the International Space Station? Do you feel isolated and alone? Or do you feel united amongst ourselves in a community that follows you with attention and affection?"The Italian astronaut then responded with fondness to his Holiness, "Holy father, I felt your prayers and everyone's prayers arriving up here," Nespoli replied. "My colleagues on board the station were very close to me at this important time for me, a very intense moment, as well as my brothers and sisters, my uncles, my aunts, my relatives were close to my mom in her last moments. I'm very grateful for this. I felt very far, but also very close. And the thought of feeling all of you near me at this time has been a great relief."The Pope concluded with greetings to the International crew, "The astronauts, I thank-you warmly for the wonderful opportunity to meet and chatter with you. You help me and many other people to reflect together on important issues with regards with the future of humanity.""I wish you the very best for your work and for the success of your current mission and the service of science, International collaboration, attentive progress and for peace in the world. I will continue to follow you in my thoughts and prayers, and being I (offer) you apostolic blessing."
The twelve crew members aboard the combined International Space Station and shuttle Endeavour will receive a special call from his holiness, Pope Benedict XVI.The Pope, who turned 84 in April, will place the call from the Vatican in Italy.This aerospace reporter on Friday asked Endeavour's Lead Flight Director Derek Hassmann (right) to share his thoughts on the Papal call to the space station, a first for the Vatican in space flight history, "This flight has been a series of firsts, and I guess we first started talking about this phone call a few weeks ago. And, when we had the launch delay, there were doubt's or questions about if it would still happen."Pope Benedict XVI will place the call to the orbiting laboratory, routed through the Johnson Space Center near Houston, beginning at 7:11 a.m. EDT (11:11 GMT) on Saturday."I'm personally thrilled and honored that we found a way to make it happen. It's a pretty amazing event in a series of amazing events for (STS) 134," Hassmann added.The video call is expected to last twenty minutes, and will mark the first time a Pope has spoken to spacecraft in earth orbit.The majority of the video call will be in English, however Pope Benedict will speak to the two Italian's aboard, Paulo Nespoli of the station's Expedition 27 crew and Endeavour astronaut Roberto Vittori, in Italian.Meanwhile, flight controllers have instructed Endeavour's crew to take a look at a chipped tile underneath the space shuttle by using the ship's robotic arm attached to a boom sensor.The inspection is set to begin at about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday as Endeavour's pilot Greg Johnson guides the arm over to look at a damaged tile located near the door of the right main landing gear well.
A Russian rocket lifts-off on Friday from Kazakhstan. (ILS)
The nearly 11,000-pound spacecraft will replace the failed Telstar 14 which was launched in 2004. One of it's two power producing solar arrays failed to deploy crippling the service ability.Spacecraft separation from the rocket's Breeze M upper stage is planned for 12:28 a.m. Saturday.
Drew Feustel along the port side of space station at 5:48 a.m. (NASA)
Several space station astronauts have depleted their oxygen early by either working to fast or breathing to much as they strain to become accustomed to their new environment.
Feustel, who performed three spacewalks two years ago during the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing flight, was able to control his oxygen intake through his suit. Meanwhile, first timer Chamitoff made a couple of returns back to the airlock to recharge his oxygen in the first three hours of the spacewalk.
Over four hours into the spacewalk, Chamitoff's carbon dioxide sensor in his spacesuit failed with Mission Control unable to receive data on the ground.
The failure forced the orbital duo to stop work outside the station so that Mission Control could access how much time would be needed to complete the tasks safely.
After much discussion, the control center informed the astronauts to begin wrapping up work and focus on the clean up of two work sites and prepare to return to the airlock early.
Feustel and Chamitoff began entering the Quest airlock at 9:13 a.m., a half-hour earlier than planned.
Several unplanned work details were performed, however most of the orbital walk in space ran 15 minutes behind schedule.
"I want to thank both of you on an outstanding EVA (extravehicular activity)," spacewalking coordinator Fincke radioed the pair upon entering the airlock. Fincke also congratulated Chamitoff on his first spacewalk and sent wishes to controllers on the ground.
Today's first spacewalk lasted a total six hours and 19 minutes, and was the 115th from the space station's airlock.
Today's 'walk was the 156th spacewalk in support of building and maintenance of earth's orbiting outpost in space, during a combined 980 hours and 12 minutes.
The second space walk by astronauts Feustel and Mike Fincke is planned for Sunday morning at 2:16 a.m.
Endeavour crew talks to media today inside space station. (NASA)
The 15,251 pound spectrometer was latched down at 5:33 a.m. EDT, this morning and the job of electrical and data connections then followed. The spectrometer was fully connected at 5:46 a.m.
The spectrometer is a particle physics experiment designed to study the origin of the universe as scientists scan the invisible cosmic rays as they use 300,000 data channels to flow information obtained to some 600 computers."Using a large magnet to create a magnetic field that will bend the path of the charged cosmic particles already traveling through space, eight different instruments will provide information on those particles as they make their way through the magnet," NASA's Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center stated this morning.
Earlier in the day, Endeavour astronauts Roberto Vittori and Drew Feustel moved the shuttle's arm to slowly to lift AMS out of the aft section of the space craft's payload bay.
They then plucked the $2 Billion platform from the shuttle's bay and slowly swung AMS over to the awaiting space station's robotic arm where it was then grappled by shuttle astronauts Greg Johnson and Greg Chamitoff.Johnson and Chamitoff, working from a control station inside the Cupola node's 360-degree field of space view, guided the huge round magnetic experiment over to the right side of the space station's backbone, known as the truss.
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer prepares for launch in Florida. (NASA)
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 is the prime payload of Endeavour's supply mission. It is a particle physics experiment designed to study the origin of the universe as scientists use it's 300,000 data channels to flow information obtained to some 600 computers."The AMS is a two-ton ring of powerful magnets and ultra sensitive detectors built to track, but not capture, cosmic rays," Kennedy Space Center's Steven Siceloff explained recently. "It will be operated remotely from Earth and should not require any attention from astronauts in orbit."
NASA estimates the cost of the privately funded AMS 2 to be near two billion dollars.
This new spectrometer is a follow on to the smaller one which flew aboard shuttle Discovery in June 1998, on the final docking to the Russian Mir space station. The experiment was a success and NASA looked to have one on the upcoming International Space Station.
The 15,251 pound AMS will be placed aboard the orbiting complex on the Starboard 3 zenith, and is scheduled to run until the end of the station's planned life in 2020.
The spectrometer began powering up on Tuesday as ground teams checked out it's health one day following it's launch aboard Endeavour.
Endeavour's crew will power up the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm and grapple the AMS-2 at 1:56 a.m. on Thursday. Mission specialists Roberto Vittori and Drew Feustel will operate the shuttle's arm to slowly lift AMS out of the back of the space craft's payload bay.Five minutes later, the station's expedition crew will awake, and twenty minutes after that, mission specialists Roberto Vittori and Drew Feustel will operate the shuttle's arm to slowly lift AMS out of the back of the space craft's payload bay.
AMS will be slowly moved over to the space station's arm where it will then grapple the huge experiment package by shuttle astronauts Greg Johnson and Greg Chamitoff at 3:00 a.m.
Once connected, the shuttle's arm will then release it as the station's arm guides AMS over to the Starboard 3 location which is just inside the right second set of solar arrays on the station's main truss.
The crews will have AMS at the S3 zenith ninety minutes after the handoff, and will spend nearly one hour attaching AMS hard down.
Endeavour's crew and space station astronaut Ron Garan awoke at 10:56 p.m. EDT tonight, three hours before the station crew awakes, to begin a busy day aboard the station.
Robotics in space allowed for a platform filled with spare parts and equipment to be moved from the payload bay of shuttle Endeavour over to the International Space Station today.Endeavour's robotic arm slowly lifted the Express Logistics Carrier 3 from it's bay and handed it off to the space station's arm where it guided it over for mating to the port 3 truss segment of the station.The carrier arrived at it's new spot on the station's left side, and it's first stage capture had it latched down at 11:58 a.m., before the complete carrier was fully latched ten minutes later following second stage capture.The aluminum carrier weighs 14,023 pounds empty as it supports an Ammonia Tank Assembly, spare parts for the station Canada-built arm, a high pressure oxygen tank, an S-Band antenna parts and four individual experiments.Endeavour's crew of six and space station flight engineer Ron Garan are scheduled to go to sleep at about 3:00 p.m., and awake eight hours later.Garan, who arrived aboard the space station on April 7 for a five month stay, is assisting the shuttle crew during their stay as the five other station crew members begin their sleep a few hours later.Three of the six station crew members will depart the orbiting outpost on Monday for their three hour trip back to earth aboard a Russian Soyuz TMA-20 craft.Beginning Tuesday, the remaining three station crew members and the shuttle crew will awake and sleep at the same time.It will be the first time during a shuttle's visit to the outpost that station crew members have left to go home.
Soyuz commander Dmitry Kondratyev, American Cady Coleman and Italian Paolo Nespoli are set to undock at 7:06 p.m. on Monday, for a landing in Kazakhstan at 10:29 p.m.
The undocking and fly around of the complex will come as Endeavour's crew sleeps, including Garan.
Once undocked, the Soyuz crew will take still images and video of the space station with Endeavour docked -- a first during the space station program.
These images which will later be used in many promotional materials published by NASA during the next decade.
Endeavour nears the space station this morning. (NASA)
A golden bell was rung in the tradition of arriving naval vessels as space station crew member Paolo Nespoli herald, "Endeavour arriving!".
Endeavour slowly closed in to a distance of 600 feet from the orbital outpost at 5:15 a.m. to begin an orbital ballet in space as the two spacecraft flew 240 miles high over southwestern Russia.
A minute later, Endeavour began a 360-degree back flip known as the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, so that the space station's crew members could photograph the underside of the shuttle to survey for any damage caused by Monday's launch.
Using a 800-mm and 400-mm cameras, station astronauts Cady Coleman and Nespoli took several hundred images of the orbiter's belly as the shuttle was held motionless for ten minutes.
As the shuttle neared the complex, ground controllers and Endeavour's Andrew Feustel monitored a special experiment which will yield new data in navigating in orbit called STORRM.
"The goal of STORRM is to validate a new relative navigation sensor based on advanced laser and detector technology that will make docking and undocking to the International Space Station and other spacecraft easier and safer," NASA's Johnson Space Center stated.
Using a sensor and high-def docking camera tied to a laptop computer on the shuttle's flight deck, commander Kelly piloted Endeavour's approach to the space station to test STORRM.The crew also took dozens of detailed images with the STORRM and later downloaded them to the ground.
Meanwhile on the ground near Houston, Kelly's wife Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, prepared to undergo an operation today to replace a piece of her skull with a plastic implant.
Rep. Giffords traveled with her staff and family to the Kennedy Space Center to watch her husband's launch from the roof of the launch control center.
Following the on time docking, the two crews worked to normalize the air pressure between the three hatches located between station and shuttle.
The hatches were officially opened between shuttle's airlock and the vestibule module on the space station at 7:38 a.m., as the station flew over the southern Pacific Ocean.
The station's Expedition 27 crew's commander Dmitry Kondratyev shook hands and gave a Russian greeting of welcome with arriving shuttle commander Kelly.
Twenty-five minutes after the hatches opened, the shuttle's crew of Kelly, pilot Greg Johnson and mission specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Feustel and Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency, floated through the hatches and into the station's Harmony module.
"Hey, you guys wore coordinating shirts," Kelly exclaimed to the space station's crew of six as he floated aboard station at 8:11 a.m., followed by his crew.
"Its good to be back, it looks pretty much the same," Kelly added minutes later as the twelve huddled for the first time together.
Feeling rushed by the busy schedule ahead for the day, Kelly stepped up to ask for the traditional safety briefing for his crew by Italian astronaut Nespoli who, with Kondratyev and Coleman, have lived aboard station for the past five months.
Endeavour soars near space station with the moon behind. (NASA)
The crew aboard space shuttle Endeavour today surveyed the ship's thermal skin for damage following launch, and prepared for their arrival tomorrow at earth's orbiting outpost in space.
Endeavour is due to arrive at her port-of-call early Wednesday morning, and following the crew's wake-up to the music of U2's "Beautiful Day", they went right to work on their second day in space.
Using the orbiter boom sensor connected to the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm, the crew used the OBS to laser scan nearly all of the top half of the ship as well as the underside leading edges and nose (above image) for any nicked or missing tiles caused during their launch on Monday morning.
The crew moved the end of the OBS system over the back end of the spacecraft then over to the starboard side before scanning the nose and wrapping up with the poet side.
The ship's survey is a mandate each shuttle crew has performed since the program's return to flight following the loss of shuttle Columbia in 2003, due to an impact to her wing edge caused by a large piece of foam insulation from her external tank.
Later in morning, astronauts Mike Fincke and Drew Feustel began work to check out their spacesuits and the tools which will be used during the four planned spacewalks during their 12 days docked to the space station.
Endeavour's crew includes commander Mark Kelly, pilot Gregory H. Johnson and mission specialists Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Feustel and Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency.
Endeavour is scheduled to fly in slow and dock for her 11th and final time to the space station at 6:15 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.
Endeavour lifts-off to begin a 16 day mission today. (NASA)
As the Air Force weather office at Cape Canaveral watched the low clouds break apart, the launch team pushed forward with prelaunch activities.
Minutes before launch, Kelly radioed his feelings to launch control and the nation, "On this final flight of space shuttle Endeavour, we want to thank the tens of thousands of dedicated employees that have put there hands on this incredible ship and dedicated their lives to the space shuttle program.
This mission represents the power of teamwork, commitment and exploration -- it is in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop. To all of the millions watching today, including our spouses, children, family and friends, we thank you for your support."Endeavour -- NASA's newest orbiter of the fleet -- lifted-off on her final voyage upon the ocean of space at 8:56:28 a.m. EDT, today from launch complex 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center.Powered by three main engines and two solid rocket boosters, they provide the necessary lift of 20% and 80% respectively of the thrust needed at launch.Burning 11,000 pounds of propellant per second, the twin solid rocket boosters carried the shuttle up to an altitude of 29 miles high and then separated from the sides of Endeavour's external fuel tank 124 seconds after launch.
Twenty seconds into the ascent, Endeavour punched a hole into a low cloud deck as she rolled into a heads down attitude and out over the Atlantic waters.
Clouds obscured portions of the launch for some of the nearly 500,000 visitors who were expected to watch the launch from north of Titusville, around the space center and south to Melbourne.
"This was one of the quickest disappearances of the shuttle that I've experienced. But we have the rules in place for valid engineering reasons and range safety reasons," launch director Mike Leinbach stated following Endeavour's arrival into orbit.
As Endeavour launched, the International Space Station flew 240 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia.
The shuttle followed the same route as the station by flying up the eastern seaboard of the United States and up the the far eastern section of Canada.After a two day chase, Endeavour's crew will guide their craft in slowly and dock to the space station at 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday. It will be the 36th station docking by an orbiter and Endeavour's 11th since 2000.Endeavour became the replacement orbiter for Challenger which was lost to the ages in 1986. Built from existing spare parts, Endeavour was built in Downey, Calif. and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in May 1991.
Shuttle Endeavour sits poised awaiting her lift-off today. (NASA)
A silicone puddy was applied by the close out crew to the damaged area ten minutes after the discovery, and the tile (right) was then cleared for flight.Low clouds and cross winds are being watched by Cape Weather officer Kathy Winters and her team as the minutes close toward an on time launch at 8:56:28 a.m.A forty minute built in hold at T-9 minutes will begin at 8:07 a.m.
The Astro Van departs for shuttle Endeavour with her crew. (NASA)
The crew will begin boarding Endeavour at 5:41 a.m., and the spacecraft's hatch should be closed at just before 7:00 a.m.
NASA's launch team began loading super cold fuels into the space shuttle Endeavour's fuel tank tonight as the space agency prepares for the program's penultimate mission later this morning.The launch control center, located just 3 miles from Endeavour's launch pad 39-A, began a chill down of the fuel lines which lead into the external fuel tank at 11:36 p.m. EDT, Sunday night at the same time the countdown clock passed the T- 6 hour and counting mark.Ten minutes later, switches were flipped to begin the slow filling of the liquid hydrogen fuel into the fuel tank. Thirty minutes later, the liquid oxygen fuels began it's slow fill into it's own tank.In all some 535,000 gallons of fuel will be loaded into the two fuel tanks located in the center rust colored external tank located between the shuttle's twin solid rocket boosters.Lift-off remains planned for 8:56:28 a.m. today, as Endeavour prepares for the start of her 16 day mission -- her 25th and final space flight.Later this morning, the six person flight crew will begin suiting up at 4:20 a.m. in their orange partial pressure suits.The crew will then depart their living quarters at 5:11 a.m. for the astro van and the ten mile ride out to launch pad 39-A where Endeavour will be venting and making noises as if it where alive.The crew, led by commander Mark Kelly, will then begin boarding at 5:41 a.m. at the 195-foot level of the launch gantry through an access arm leading to the orbiter's D-shaped hatch.
Endeavour will soar on her final spaceflight Monday. (NASA)
Weather remains 70% favorable as forecasters watch for a chance of cross wind conditions at the shuttle landing facility's runway and a slight chance for low clouds. The runway would be used in an abort scenario during the first few minutes of launch if one or more main engines shutdown.Shuttle Endeavour will lift-off on her twenty-fifth and final space flight of her career to begin a 16 day mission to drop of spare equipment and a particle physics detector which will study and measure cosmic rays to look for and understand dark matter in the universe around us.
Launch remains on track for Monday at 8:56:28 a.m. EDT, from launch complex 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Endeavour's all veteran crew of commander Mark Kelly, pilot Gregory H. Johnson and mission specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency, will spend twelve days docked to the space station as they deliver a few tones of fresh food, supplies, experiments and water for the station's six person crew.
Endeavour's mission to the station will be much different than that of past shuttle to station visits during the last decade.
The station's crew will awake about four hours after Endeavour's crew during the docked phase; and a never before performed undocking by a departing Soyuz with three station crew members will allow for the taking of several historic images of the orbiting complex-space shuttle together 230 miles high above earth.
After a two day chase, the crew will guide Endeavour in slowly and dock to the space station at 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday. It will be the 36th station docking by an orbiter, and Endeavour's 11th since 2000.
A few hours later, the hatches will open and the collective group of twelve will work together as a crew to begin unloading supplies and prepare for the grapple of the major payload in the shuttle's bay.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 is the prime payload of this STS-134 mission. It is a particle physics experiment in which scientists will use it's 300,000 data channels to flow information obtained to some 600 computers.
The 15,300 pound AMS will be placed aboard the orbiting complex on the Starboard 3 zenith and ran until the end of the station's planned life in 2020.
Endeavour's crew will awake three hours before the station crew awakes to begin their first full day aboard the station.
Endeavour's crew will power up the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm and grapple the AMS-2 at 1:56 a.m. on Thursday. Five minutes later, the station's expedition crew will awake and twenty minutes after that, the shuttle's arm will slowly begin lifting the AMS out of the payload bay.
AMS will be slowly moved over to the space station's arm where it will then grapple the huge experiment package at 3 a.m.
Once connected, the shuttle's arm will then release it as the station's arm guides AMS over to the Starboard 3 location which is just inside the right second set of solar arrays on the station's main truss.
The crews will have AMS at the S3 zenith ninety minutes after the handoff, and will spend nearly one hour attaching AMS hard down.Astronauts will also perform four spacewalks during the mission, the first to begin at 3:16 a.m. on Friday.One week into Endeavour's mission, three of the station's six crew members will depart aboard their Russian Soyuz TMA20 craft after spending five full months in space.
It will be the first time during a shuttle's visit to the outpost that station crew members have left to go home.
Soyuz commander Dmitry Kondratyev, American Catherine "Cady" Coleman and Italian Paolo Nespoli are set to undock at 7:06 p.m. on May 23, to begin their three-hour trip back to earth.
The undocking and fly around of the complex will come as Endeavour's crew sleeps, including station astronaut Ron Garan who will have sleep shifted in support of the shuttle's crew.
Once undocked, the Soyuz crew will take still images and video of the space station with the shuttle docked, a first during the space station program.
It is these images which will be seen in many promotional materials published by NASA during the next decade.
Endeavour is set to undock for the final time from station in the closing minutes of May 29.
As the shuttle departs the complex, ground controllers and the flight crew will be watching a special experiment called STORRM.
"The goal of STORRM is to validate a new relative navigation sensor based on advanced laser and detector technology that will make docking and undocking to the International Space Station and other spacecraft easier and safer," NASA's Johnson Space Center states.
Using a sensor and high-def docking camera tied to a laptop computer on the shuttle's flight deck, commander Kelly will back Endeavour out and then reapproach the space station to test STORRM.
"Once we undock and separate from space station, we will re-rendezvous on a different type of profile to gather more data and be somewhat more similar to what Orion would do during a space station approach," Kelly explained recently.
This new docking approach guidance will operate from three miles away to up to just five feet from the station's docking target.
One hour following undocking, Endeavour will perform a separation burn and minutes later, begin STORRM operations.
A second separation burn will move the spacecraft further out before Kelly and pilot Johnson begin to reapproach the football field size complex again -- a first in the shuttle program.
Two and one-half hours following undocking, Endeavour will begin a series of burns to close in using the new sensor system.
Endeavour will sail into the sunset of her storied career as her final time in space concludes with a deorbit burn set for 1:29 a.m. on flight day 17 -- the conclusion of the 217th orbit of the mission.
Landing is currently set for 2:32 a.m. on June 1 back at the Kennedy Space Center's runway 15/33.
Of note, as Endeavour glides into the spaceport for landing, her sister ship Atlantis is currently scheduled to roll out that same night, and will likely be on the crawler way and just a mile from pad 39-A.
copyright 1998 - 2010 Charles Atkeison, SpaceLaunchNews.com. All rights reserved.
Shuttle Atlantis inches to her launch pad tonight. (NASA)
one by one come home with a landing in Kazakhstan during a Soyuz TMA's planned return.
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