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COUNTDOWN CLOCK

Days Hours Minutes Seconds

Shuttle Endeavour
July 11, 2009
7:39 p.m. EDT
(2339 GMT)

Endeavour and 7 astronauts to launch the STS-127 construction mission to the ISS.


Satellite Broadcast Information
Live launch webcast on NASA TV.

Complete Launch Forecast


MISSION UPDATE

Mission Endeavour: Delivering Space Station's Japanese Porch
For 10:00 a.m. EDT Thursday, July 2:

After nearly a month of delays, the space shuttle Endeavour is now slated for a July 11 launch toward the International Space Station after a hydrogen gas leak prevented two earlier attempts. The shuttle is slated to blast off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 7:39 p.m. EDT (2339 GMT).

Mission Description from NASA:

"Endeavour's flight will deliver the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station. The 16-day mission will include five spacewalks and the installation of two platforms outside of the Japanese module. One platform is permanent and will serve as a type of porch for experiments that require direct exposure to space. The other is an experiment storage palette that will be detached and returned with the shuttle. During the mission, Kibo's robotic arm will exchange three experiments from the palette to the platform. Future experiments also can be transfer to the platform from the inside using the laboratory's airlock. Endeavour also will deliver a new crew member and bring back another after more than three months aboard the station."

Veteran astronaut Mark Polansky is commanding Endeavour's STS-127 mission. Astronaut Doug Hurley serves as pilot with mission specialists Chris Cassidy, Julie Payette of Canada, Tom Marshburn, Dave Wolf and Tim Kopra rounding out the crew. Kopra will replace Japanese astroanut Koichi Wakata aboard the International Space Station as a member of its first full 6-person crew.

Endeavour has a slim four-day launch window that closes on July 14 to allow a previously scheduled unmanned Russian cargo ship to launch and dock at the space station. The next opportunity to fly would come on July 27, mission managers have said.

Click here for live launch and mission coverage.

Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Senior Editor
 



About the Rocket

 
 

About the Launch Site

NASA's space shuttle first flew in 1981 and is the only reusable launch system in the world. Three main engines and twin boosters provide the thrust that sends the 18-story vehicle toward orbit. The shuttle typically flies missions lasting 12 to 14 days and can carry heavy cargo to and from Earth orbit. The solid rocket boosters are recovered from the ocean and the orbiter lands either in Florida or California. Only the external tank is not reused. Learn more here.     The Kennedy Space Center was created in 1962 as the site where humans would blast off to the Moon. Following the Apollo program the space center was given a makeover and now serves as the launch and landing base for NASA's fleet of space shuttles. In addition to office facilities and processing hangars, there is one major launch complex that includes pads 39A and 39B, as well as the Vehicle Assembly Building and three orbiter hangars. Learn more here.

 

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