NASA Aims to Launch Space Shuttle on Feb. 7
This story was updated at 5:54 p.m. ET.
NASA has set a firm
early February launch date for the space shuttle Endeavour to deliver a brand-new room
and observation portal to the International Space Station.
The decision, announced
Wednesday, official targets Endeavour for a planned 4:39 a.m. EST (0939 GMT)
blastoff on Feb. 7 from NASA?s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The predawn
liftoff is expected to be NASA?s last ever space
shuttle launch in darkness.
Top shuttle mission
managers met today in a standard review to discuss Endeavour?s readiness for
the planned 13-day mission.
?This is really a complicated mission,? NASA?s space operations chief William Gerstenmaier told reporters after the review.
Commanded by veteran
astronaut George Zamka, Endeavour?s five-man, one-woman crew will deliver the
station?s new Tranquility module and a long-awaited observation portal, called
the Cupola.
The Tranquility
module is a 24-foot (7.3-meter) cylinder that is nearly 15 feet (4.5 meters)
wide and weighs about 40,000 pounds (18,143 kg). It will eventually serve as
the home for the station?s robotic arm controls, life support systems and
exercise gear. One of the module's many connection ports will be occupied by the
Cupola, a seven-window addition that promises to give astronauts a sweeping,
panoramic view of Earth, space and visiting spacecraft, NASA officials said.
Endeavour
astronauts will perform three spacewalks during the mission. Their
shuttle will also be hauling spare parts for the space station?s broken urine
and water recycling system, mission managers said.
Earlier this month,
two of the Tranquility module?s four custom-made ammonia coolant hoses failed a
standard preflight test, prompting engineers to cobble together replacements in
time for Endeavour?s upcoming launch. The ammonia hoses were about 16 feet (4.8
meters) long ? longer than typical station hoses, so NASA engineers built new
ones by combining shorter hoses into bigger segments.
?Right now,
everything is looking very, very good,? said NASA launch director Mike
Leinbach.
NASA will have
several chances to launch Endeavour ahead of an unmanned rocket slated to loft
the space agency?s new Solar Dynamics Observatory to study the sun. That solar
probe is also due to lift off in early February, mission managers said.
Endeavour?s flight
will be the 130th shuttle flight since NASA began launching the winged,
reusable space planes in April 1981. The upcoming night
launch is the first of NASA?s five final shuttle missions planned in 2010
before the orbiter fleet is retired later this fall.
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