CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - The shuttle Endeavour and seven NASA astronauts are cleared
for their planned Friday night launch toward the International Space Station,
mission managers said Tuesday.
Endeavour
is poised
to blast off from its seaside launch pad here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
(KSC) on Nov. 14 at 7:55 p.m. EST (0055 Nov. 15 GMT) on a busy mission to prime
the station for larger, six-person crews. The potential for thick clouds and nearby
rain showers still plague the planned space shot, though Endeavour has a 60
percent chance of favorable launch weather.
"We're
ready to go," said LeRoy Cain, chair of Endeavour's mission management team, in
a status briefing. "The vehicle and crew and ground teams have prepared very
hard for this mission."
Commanded
by veteran spaceflyer Chris Ferguson, Endeavour's STS-126 crew is preparing for
a planned
15-day mission to the space station. Astronauts plan to swap out one member
of the outpost's three-person crew and perform four spacewalks to clean and
grease up a damaged solar array joint during their orbital stay.
Endeavour
is hauling
a spare space toilet, second kitchen, new exercise equipment and a water
recovery system designed to recycle urine into potable water. The first
refrigerator to chill drinks and food for station crewmembers is also aboard
the shuttle.
Set to
launch toward
the station with Ferguson are shuttle pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists
Don Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidi Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Sandra
Magnus. Magnus will replace NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff aboard the station as
part of the outpost's Expedition 18 crew. The astronauts arrived at their
launch site here late Monday after taking an aerial look at Endeavour atop the
launch pad.
"It looks
good on the pad and we're very excited about getting up to orbit,"
Stefanyshyn-Piper said.
The weather
forecast for the Friday night launch remains dicey, with nearby rain showers
within 20 miles (32 km) of the launch site and thick clouds posing the only
concerns, said Kathy Winters, NASA's shuttle weather officer. A weather front
is expected to arrive over the spaceport late this week, she added.
"Right now,
weather is looking a little bit marginal with a 40 percent chance of KSC
weather preventing launch," Winters said.
The weather
on Saturday is even worse, with Endeavour sporting just a 40 percent chance of
good launch weather, she added.
NASA must
launch Endeavour by Nov. 25 to avoid unfavorable heating and sun angles at the
International Space Station. Mission managers would prefer, however, to launch
the shuttle by Nov. 21 to avoid docking conflicts with the unmanned Russian
Progress 31 cargo ship, which is currently slated to arrive at the station on
Nov. 30.
Endeavour's
STS-126 mission will mark NASA's fourth shuttle flight of the year, the most in
a single year since 2002. It is also the second night launch of 2008 for NASA's
shuttle fleet, and Endeavour in particular. The shuttle last lifted off in
darkness during its STS-123 mission in March.
About 31 of
NASA's 123 shuttle missions to date have launched in darkness to light up
the Florida sky.
"Night
launches are special," said Mike Leinbach, NASA's shuttle launch director. "They
sure are."
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