Endeavour Shuttle Launch
This Wednesday, at 6:36:39 p.m. EDT, the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour will take off from its launchpad and head for outer space!
The Endeavor mission (STS-118) is unique in several ways. One big way is that it is the first shuttle mission to send a teacher into space since the Challenger explosion in January 1986.
The teacher going up with the space shuttle Endeavour is Barbara Morgan, the backup in 1986 for teacher Christa McAuliffe who perished in the Challenger disaster.
The astronauts on the Space Shuttle Endeavour will be responsible for putting some finishing touches on the International Space Station (ISS).
The little bit of assembly – as in assembly of the International Space Station – refers to the next segment that will be attached to the right side of the station’s backbone, or truss. The new segment, known as the S5, is relatively small and weighs about 5,000 pounds. The piece provides clearance between sets of solar arrays on the truss structure.
That doesn’t mean, however, that installing it will be easy. Every crew member will play a part. Pilot Charles Hobaugh and space station Flight Engineer Clay Anderson will operate the station robotic arm that moves the segment into place, while spacewalkers David Williams and Richard Mastracchio provide guidance from the outside and finish the installation. Commander Scott Kelly and mission specialists Tracy Caldwell and Benjamin Alvin Drew will help out inside. Morgan will operate the shuttle robotic arm to provide television views of the operation.
Here are some images from NASA of the pre-flight sequence.
Countdown to the launch on Wednesday with NASA’s own shuttle countdown page.
And for something infinitely cool, check out the work that Microsoft’s fantastic Photosynth team is doing to construct a 3D view of the environment around the Endeavour’s launchpad. It’s truly amazing what Microsoft’s development team is doing with this. If you have no idea what Microsoft Photosynth is, then read about it here and here and then watch a video of it here. Be amazed.
I can’t wait to see the pictures after the launch. NASA is always good about providing insanely hi-res photos for the public. :)
Similar Posts on Doobybrain.com:
- Space Shuttle Edeavor (STS-123) launch in HD
- Space Shuttle Discovery: Mission STS-120 to ISS
- Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-122) attacked by spider!
- Buzz Lightyear to be launched into space by NASA!!!
- This is the kind of camera they use in outer space