The space
shuttle Endeavour rolled from one Florida launch pad to another on Sunday in
preparation for a complicated June construction flight to the International Space Station.
NASA parked
Endeavour atop the seaside Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral., Fla., at 11:42 a.m. EDT (1542 GMT) after a more than eight-hour
trek from its previous perch.
Endeavour
is scheduled to blast off on June 13 to deliver a porch-like experiment platform
to the space station that will complete the outpost's Japanese Kibo
laboratory. Five spacewalks are planned for the marathon 16-day mission to
install and outfit the new experiment porch and deliver vital spare parts.
NASA moved
Endeavour to Pad 39A from the nearby Launch Pad 39B, where it had been on
standby to fly a rescue
mission for astronauts aboard its sister ship Atlantis in case an
unexpected emergency occurred during their recent mission to overhaul the
Hubble Space Telescope. No rescue was needed and Atlantis landed safely in
California on May 24, but bad weather has delayed its ferry flight back atop a
modified jumbo jet.
Launch pads
39A and 3B are only one mile (1.6 km) apart from point to point, but NASA's massive
Apollo-era crawler carrier vehicle had to haul the 100-ton Endeavour along a
3.4-mile (5.4-km) path that links the two launch sites. It was only the fourth
time in NASA's 28-year history of shuttle flight that a shuttle swapped launch
pads.
Endeavour's
move also marked the last time in history a shuttle was parked atop Pad 39B.
NASA is converting the shuttle launch site to host its new Ares
I rocket and Orion crew capsules. Substantial modifications are required
before the first planned test flight, Ares I-X, no earlier than Aug. 30.
The cargo for
Endeavour's mission was already at awaiting the orbiter's arrival at Pad 39A.
It will be moved into the shuttle's 60-foot (20-meter) payload over the next
week, NASA officials said.
Endeavour's
seven-astronaut crew, commanded by veteran spaceflyer Mark Polansky, is due
climb into the shuttle on Thursday during a launch dress rehearsal and an emergency
escape drill.
The shuttle's
STS-127 mission to the space station will mark NASA's third shuttle flight of
five planned in 2009.
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