CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Endeavour is "go" to launch an
ambitious mission to the International Space Station on Saturday, NASA managers
said today.
"We're
in really good shape to fly," said Mike Moses, Endeavour's mission
management team chief, in a briefing here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
"As a management team we had a good unanimous "go" for
launch."
The weather
outlook is near perfect for the shuttle's planned liftoff 7:17 a.m. EDT (1117
GMT) from the seaside Launch Pad 39A here. Endeavour's seven-astronaut crew is
also eager
for launch.
Shuttle
weather officer Kathy Winters forecasted a 90 percent chance of favorable
weather for Saturday. The only concern is the slight chance of clouds over the
launch pad, which could trigger lightning.
"The
weather does look very good for launch," she said. "We also look very
good if we happen to delay."
Endeavour
is slated for a 16-day
mission to deliver a porch-like experiment platform for the station's
Japanese Kibo lab and other gear to the International Space Station. The
STS-127 mission's seven crewmembers, led by veteran astronaut Mark Polansky,
are sleeping in today to prepare for their nocturnal mission schedule.
They are
scheduled to wake up tonight at 8:15 p.m. EDT (2415 GMT). Mission specialists
Chris Cassidy and Julie Payette, who represents the Canadian Space Agency, plan
to conduct practice flights in NASA's T-38 training jets tonight.
The
astronauts plan five tricky spacewalks and a series of challenging robotic arm
operations to install the new piece of the Kibo laboratory, as well as a set of
spare equipment for the space station.
With
Endeavour's crew onboard, the
orbiting station will host a record number of 13 people at once. The space
station doubled its population to a full, six-person crew last month.
"It's
like having your family descend on you for the holidays and they're gonna stay
for a very
long time ... and they're going to bring all their stuff," Moses said.
Since the
shuttle crew and station crew trained together before launch, Moses expects
things to go pretty smoothly. "I think what we're going to see is probably
some unprecedented efficiencies," he said.
If
Endeavour is unable to launch Saturday, NASA can try again on Sunday or Monday.
The weather looks 90 percent favorable for a 24-hour delay, and 80 percent
favorable on Monday.
After that,
the shuttle must stand down to make way for a pair of unmanned lunar spacecraft
set to launch toward
the moon on June 17 from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
mission managers have said. If the shuttle cannot launch in June, the next
opportunity for Endeavour will open up on July 11.
Endeavour's
official launch countdown began early Wednesday, and preparations are going
smoothly to get the vehicle ready to lift off.
SPACE.com
will provide complete coverage of Endeavour's STS-127 mission with staff writer
Clara Moskowitz in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and Senior Editor Tariq Malik in New
York. Click here for live coverage,
mission updates and a link to NASA TV.
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