Endeavour

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Amid the tranquility of a wildlife refuge, space shuttle Endeavour rumbles off Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Endeavour began its final flight, the STS-134 mission, to the International Space Station on time at 8:56 a.m. EDT on May 16. Endeavour and its six-member crew are embarking on a mission to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), Express Logistics Carrier-3, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper to the space station. Endeavour's first launch attempt on April 29 was scrubbed because of an issue associated with a faulty power distribution box called the aft load control assembly-2 (ALCA-2). For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts134/index.html. Kennedy coexists with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, habitat to more than 310 species of birds, 25 mammals, 117 fish and 65 amphibians and reptiles. Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph and Kevin O'Connell

Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off Feb. 24, 2011, from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on its STS-133 mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Jonathan Gibson)

Space shuttle Discovery

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Discovery awaits its move, called rollback, from Launch Pad 39A to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rollback was scheduled for 12:30 a.m., but was postponed until 10 p.m. so technicians could resolve an issue with a leveling system on the crawler-transporter, which is in front of the shuttle. Once inside the VAB, Discovery's external fuel tank will be examined and foam reapplied where 89 sensors were installed on the tank's aluminum skin for an instrumented tanking test on Dec. 17. The sensors were used to measure changes in the tank as super-cold propellants were pumped in and drained out. Data and analysis from the test will be used to determine what caused the tops of two, 21-foot-long support beams, called stringers, on the outside of the intertank to crack during fueling on Nov. 5. Discovery's next launch opportunity to the International Space Station on the STS-133 mission is no earlier than Feb. 3, 2011. For more information on STS-133, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts133/. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

Space shuttle Discovery

In this image from Friday, Dec. 17, space shuttle Discovery sat on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as its external fuel tank was filled with more than 535,000 gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen during a tanking test. Data from the ship's 89 sensors were evaluated after the tank returned to ambient temperature. This morning, Discovery arrived at the Vehicle Assembly Building, completing the 3.4 mile trek from Launch Pad 39A, known as a rollback, that began at 10:48 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010.

There, technicians will take x-ray scans beneath the foam insulation of all 108 support beams, called stringers, on Discovery’s external fuel tank. They’ll also remove sensors on the external tank from last Friday’s tanking test and reapply foam to those areas.

Image Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way to reattach the vent line to the ground umbilical carrier plate (GUCP) on space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank. A hydrogen gas leak at that location during tanking for Discovery's STS-133 mission to the International Space Station caused the launch attempt to be scrubbed Nov. 5. The GUCP is the overboard vent to the pad and the flame stack where the excess hydrogen is burned off. Discovery's next launch attempt is no earlier than Nov. 30 at 4:02 a.m. EST. For more information on STS-133, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts133/. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Shuttle

Space Shuttle