Endeavour aims to set record at station

Loading toxic propellants was completed Friday at launch pad 39A, and technicians have begun the final preparations for Endeavour's 2:28 a.m. EST launch March 11.

The 16-day mission will include five spacewalks and likely will be the longest stay to date at the International Space Station. Endeavour is scheduled to stay nearly 12 days at the station. Discovery so far has logged the longest stay at the space station: nearly 11 days during a 15-day mission in October 2007.

Longer stays were enabled last year when Discovery and Endeavour were outfitted with a $68-million cable that allows the shuttles to draw power from the space station.

Endeavour will carry a Japanese logistics module and a Canadian robot to the station. An unmannded European cargo carrier will be near the station during the mission. The Automated Transfer Vehicle will dock at the space station after the shuttle departs.

The two-day flight readiness review, Thursday and Friday, went smoothly after a persistent problem with signals from low-fuel sensors was repaired before the last launch.

The shuttle crew of seven arrives from Houston Friday to prepare for the launch. The countdown begins at 2 a.m. EST March 8.