Endeavour, the space shuttle named after the same Endeavour as our company, is naturally, of great interest for us. Endeavour’s last space voyage started today. The next voyage of the last of the shuttles will be Atlantis’ after which the shuttle space program would be terminated.
Endeavour blasted off on the next-to-last shuttle flight Monday morning under the command of Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The wounded congresswoman watched the launch in private from Kennedy Space Center. As many as 45,000 guests jammed NASA's launch site. The crowd outside the gates was estimated to be in the tens of thousands, if not more. It was the second launch attempt. Late last month, an electrical problem halted the countdown. Endeavour and its six astronauts will arrive at the International Space Station on Wednesday. They are delivering a $2 billion particle physics experiment. The mission will last 16 days. Only one other shuttle trip remains.
The STS-134 crew led by Commander Mark Kelly are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 8:56 a.m. EDT Monday, May 16. The crew of Kelly, pilot Greg Johnson, mission specialists Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) and critical supplies to the space station. The supplies include two communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional parts for the Dextre robot. The AMS is a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual cosmic matter. The crew also will transfer Endeavour's orbiter boom sensor system, where it could assist spacewalkers as an extension for the station's robotic arm.
We are all down here following Endeavour’s last voyage and wish it safe and successful completion of its mission.
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