This story was updated at 12:33 p.m. EDT.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts
aboard NASA's shuttle Endeavour will begin transforming their trusty spacecraft
into a 100-ton glider as they gear up for a planned Tuesday landing.
Shuttle commander Scott Kelly and
pilot Charlie Hobaugh fired Endeavour's rocket thrusters and tested its
flight control surfaces Monday to prime for flight in Earth's atmosphere as
concerns over Hurricane
Dean's impact on NASA's Mission Control centers eased, mission managers
said.
Meanwhile, engineers on Earth completed their analysis of imagery from a late heat shield
inspection conducted by Endeavour's
STS-118 crew on Sunday, clearing the orbiter for its reentry tomorrow. The now-standard survey allows astronauts to scan
their orbiter's nose cap and wing leading edges for signs of damage by
micrometeorites or orbital debris.
"They've done just an
absolutely super job," Matt Abbott, NASA's lead shuttle flight director,
said of Endeavour's crew Sunday, adding that an initial look at some of the
inspection imagery yielded no concerns. "We're looking forward to a safe
and successful couple of days, and reentry and landing on Tuesday."
Endeavour astronauts scanned their
heat shield once before, just after their Aug. 8 launch, to check for damage
from fuel tank debris. NASA cleared the shuttle of any launch debris damage
concerns, including a gouge
in the orbiter's underbelly, and a minor window scuff from micrometeorite
debris late last week.
Kelly, Hobaugh and their STS-118 crewmates
are slated to land here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 12:32 p.m. EDT
(1632 GMT) Tuesday, with a second opportunity about 90 minutes later. Mission
managers are also calling up a backup runway at Edwards Air Force Base in
California's Mojave Desert, but hope to land in Florida to avoid additional
turnaround time and costs.
Endeavour's astronaut crew, which
includes teacher-turned-spaceflyer
Barbara Morgan, undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday
morning after nine days of construction work to deliver cargo, spare parts and
a new piece of the orbital laboratory's starboard-side framework. Morgan served
as NASA's backup to Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe for the ill-fated 1986
Challenger mission. She later became a full fledged spaceflyer in 1998.
In addition to their flight control systems
check, Endeavour's crew is expected to stow items away for landing
and speak with students in Canada's La Ronge,
Saskatchewan via a space-to-ground video link. Kelly, Morgan and STS-118
mission specialist Dave Williams, a veteran Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut,
will participate in the educational event, CSA officials said.
NASA pushed the shuttle's landing to
Tuesday, one day earlier than planned, to avoid potential disruptions at its
Houston, Texas-based Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center by Hurricane
Dean. Current forecasts predict the
massive storm will head toward central Mexico, according to the National
Hurricane Center.
If the hurricane continues to pose
little risk to mission control operations, NASA could target KSC only for any
landing opportunities on Tuesday, using the Edwards runway as a backup on
Wednesday. But the agency is prepared to relocate to a backup Mission Control
at KSC if required, the space agency said.
"That kind of thing, you don't
want to make a mistake with," Abbott said of NASA's hurricane
considerations.
NASA is broadcasting Endeavour's
STS-118 mission live on NASA TV. Click
here for mission updates and SPACE.com's NASA TV feed.
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