NASA Fuels Space Shuttle to Launch on Super Bowl Sunday
This story was
updated Feb. 7 at 4:09 a.m. ET.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
? NASA fueled the space shuttle Endeavour for the mother of all Super Bowl
pregame shows ? a predawn blastoff on Sunday that is expected to be the last
night launch of an orbiter ever.
Endeavour and a crew
of six
astronauts are slated launch toward the International Space Station from a
seaside pad here at NASA?s Kennedy Space Center. Liftoff is set for 4:39 a.m.
EST (0939 GMT), about 14 hours before the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans
Saints kick off Super Bowl 44 in South Florida.
?It?s going to be a
special day,? said shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach.
?We?re going to launch Sunday morning and we?re going to watch the big game
Sunday night.?
Despite a promising
weather forecast, which predicted an 80 percent chance of clear skies, NASA has
been battling a thick, low cloud layer that has been threatening the planned
liftoff. If the launch is delayed, NASA will gladly skip the Super Bowl to get
Endeavour ready to fly on Monday.
?We're not going to
change our plans based on the Super Bowl, frankly,? Leinbach
said, adding that tomorrow?s game is not the first ? or the last ? football
championship game. ?So there have been quite a few, and there will probably be
more.?
Fueling operations
began a bit late due to a glitch with equipment on Endeavour?s launch pad
gantry. NASA began pumping super-cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen
propellant into the shuttle?s 15-story external tank at about 7:47 p.m. EST
(0047 GMT).
Nighttime launch
Endeavour?s planned
13-day mission is the first of NASA?s five final
shuttle missions before the space agency retires its aging orbiter fleet
later this year. It is NASA?s last major construction job to build the
11-year-old station.
The shuttle will
deliver a new room to the station along with a dome-shaped observation portal
lined with windows. They will be installed during three spacewalks by the
astronauts, who will be following an overnight work shift.
The predawn shuttle
launch is also expected to be the last ever to blast off in darkness.
?It should be
spectacular,? said Endeavour commander George Zamka,
who will make his second trip to space on the mission. [How to see
the shuttle launch.]
At liftoff,
Endeavour?s twin solid rocket boosters will light up the night sky, Zamka
said. That?s the first thing Florida skywatchers will
see. The rumbling roar of the shuttle?s rocket engines will reach the crowds a
short time later as Endeavour climbs into the morning sky.
?It?s going to light
up the ground around,? he said. ?You should be able to see it from as far as
the Carolinas, I think, if the skies
are clear. It should be a wonderful sight.? In fact, experts say the shuttle
could be visible from as far away as New York if the skies are clear enough.
Set to launch
spaceward on Endeavour with Zamka are shuttle
pilot Terry Virts and mission specialists
Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Robert Behnken and Nick
Patrick. All are veteran spaceflyers with
the exception of Virts, who is making his first
spaceflight.
Space rooms and windows
Zamka?s five-man, one-woman
crew will deliver the station?s new Tranquility
module and a seven-window observation portal dubbed the Cupola. Once
they?re installed, the $100 billion station will be about 98 percent complete.
Construction began in 1998.
Tranquility is a new
$382 million room designed to house the station?s life support and exercise
gear, as well as a robotic arm control station. The Cupola is a $27.2 million
dome with six windows arranged around a large central portal for optimum
viewing of the Earth and space.
Both Tranquility and
the Cupola were built by the European Space Agency (ESA), which has sent more
than 100 people to come watch Endeavour launch their handiwork into space.
?It?s a lot like a
baby growing up, a child leaving the house,? said ESA space station program
manager Bernardo Patti.
Endeavour?s flight
comes less than a week after President Barack Obama ordered NASA to scrap its
current plan to replace the shuttle fleet with new Orion spacecraft and their
Ares rockets to send American astronauts into space and on to the moon.
Instead, the
administration released a 2011 budget request for NASA that would set aside
funding to develop new technologies and support commercially built spacecraft
that could send astronauts back to the moon ? or to asteroids or Mars ? faster
than the old path.
Shuttle officials
said the radical shift has left some workers in shock, but they are still
focused on the near-term goal of launching
Endeavour safely.
?It?s kind of one of
those uncertainties about where we?re going to go next,? said Mike Moses,
NASA?s shuttle launch integration manager.
Sunday?s launch will
mark the 34th flight for Endeavour and is NASA?s 130th shuttle mission since
its reusable space planes began launching in 1981.
?It?s going to be a
beautiful launch. You?ll be able to see it all the way up the East Coast and
we?re looking forward to it,? Leinbach said.
?The team is energized. We?re ready to go.?
- NASA's
Final Night Shuttle Launch Visible From Eastern U.S.
- Video
- Behind the Scenes of Endeavour's STS-130 Mission
- Images
- Space Shuttle's Midnight Launch
SPACE.com is
providing complete coverage of Endeavour's STS-130 mission to the International
Space Station with Managing Editor Tariq Malik in Cape
Canaveral and Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in New
York. Click here for shuttle
mission updates and a link to NASA TV. Live coverage begins at 11:30 p.m. ET.









