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Endeavour ready for launch July 11 at Kennedy center
By MARY ALYS CHERRY
The countdown has begun and NASA said Space Shuttle Endeavour was a “go” for launch Saturday, July 11, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
That is if the weather cooperates.
The twice-delayed STS-127 mission will lift off at 6:39 p.m. for a 16-day journey to the International Space Station and back that will feature five spacewalks, as astronauts continue construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory.
The initial part of the Kibo lab was delivered in June 2008 by the crew of the STS-124 mission. This is the last in a series of three flights dedicated to the lab’s assembly.
The STS-127 crew members are Cmdr. Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. And, based on where he will be sitting at launch, Cassidy will become the 500th person in history to fly in space.
Polansky and crew also will deliver a new crew member, Kopra, to the ISS and bring back Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who has spent the last three months on the space station.
Astronauts also will attach two platforms to the outside of the Japanese module so future experiments by ISS occupants will be exposed to space.
“One platform is permanent and will serve as a type of porch for experiments that require direct exposure to space,” NASA said. “The other is an experiment storage pallet that will be detached and returned with the shuttle. During the mission, Kibo’s robotic arm will exchange three experiments from the palette to the platform.”
STS-127 is the 127th flight of the space shuttle, which has seven more flights before retirement.
It is the 29th journey to the space station, and the 23rd flight for Endeavour. Earlier tries to launch Endeavour were canceled because of a leak associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the shuttle’s external tank. The hydrogen venting system, the space agency explained, is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad.
That is if the weather cooperates.
The twice-delayed STS-127 mission will lift off at 6:39 p.m. for a 16-day journey to the International Space Station and back that will feature five spacewalks, as astronauts continue construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory.
The initial part of the Kibo lab was delivered in June 2008 by the crew of the STS-124 mission. This is the last in a series of three flights dedicated to the lab’s assembly.
500TH IN SPACE
The STS-127 crew members are Cmdr. Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. And, based on where he will be sitting at launch, Cassidy will become the 500th person in history to fly in space.
Polansky and crew also will deliver a new crew member, Kopra, to the ISS and bring back Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who has spent the last three months on the space station.
Astronauts also will attach two platforms to the outside of the Japanese module so future experiments by ISS occupants will be exposed to space.
ONE PERMANENT
“One platform is permanent and will serve as a type of porch for experiments that require direct exposure to space,” NASA said. “The other is an experiment storage pallet that will be detached and returned with the shuttle. During the mission, Kibo’s robotic arm will exchange three experiments from the palette to the platform.”
STS-127 is the 127th flight of the space shuttle, which has seven more flights before retirement.
It is the 29th journey to the space station, and the 23rd flight for Endeavour. Earlier tries to launch Endeavour were canceled because of a leak associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the shuttle’s external tank. The hydrogen venting system, the space agency explained, is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad.
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