Endeavour enters assembly building

Live: Refresh this page for the latest live image inside the VAB as the orbiter is prepared and then hoisted into position today for mating to its external tank and boosters.

The orbiter Endeavour rolled into the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building this morning, marking a key milestone in ongoing preparations for a planned Aug. 7 launch on an International Space Station construction mission.

A couple of hundred technicians, engineers and managers lined the roadway between Orbiter Processing Facility Bay No. 2 and the 52-story assembly building during the quarter-mile move, which began about 7:25 a.m. Mounted atop a 76-wheel transporter, the orbiter entered the assembly building about 45 minutes later.













Crane operators later today will hoist the spaceship atop a mobile launcher platform in one of the high bays inside the assembly building. The orbiter likely will be mated to an external tank with attached solid rocket boosters on Tuesday.

A weeklong series of tests then will be carried out to verify mechanical and electrical connections between the orbiter, tank, boosters and launcher platform. The fully assembled shuttle is scheduled to rollout on July 11. Launch is scheduled for Aug. 7.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the Florida Today photo of workers escorting the orbiter Endeavour on its move today from Orbiter Processing Facility Bay No. 2 to the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building. Photo credit: Michael R. Brown, Florida Today.