Shuttle Endeavour has preformed a third and final thruster burn to increase its distance from the International Space Station.The burn was delayed after mission managers discovered that an earlier maneuver could put the shuttle within 11 kilometers of space junk - the remnants of a Russian Cosmos satellite.
The satellite was launched in June 2006 and broke up in March, said station flight director Mike Sarafin.
"Per the flight rules, it was the safe course of action to not perform that burn," Sarafin said during a briefing this afternoon at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
While avoiding pieces of one satellite, Endeavour is positioning itself to deploy another. Around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, springs will deploy an experimental Department of Defense satellite called the Picosat Solar Cell Experiment.
The samll satellite will test two types of new solar cells, and will be positioned relatively close to the space station for several months.
About two hours before going to sleep, mission commander Chris Ferguson thanked mission controllers for their support and asked about their shopping activity today.
"I hope everyone had an opportunity this 'Black Friday' to visit the discount retailer of their choice," he joked.
Sarafin said mission controllers are closely watching the weather forecast for Sunday's planned landing at Kennedy Space Center. He said a front is expected to move into the area Sunday.
Endeavour has two opportunities to land at KSC Sunday, at 1:19 p.m. and 2:54 p.m.
Landings are also possible at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 4:24 p.m. and 5:59 p.m.
Endeavour has enough supplies of lithium hydroxide, which scrubs carbon dioxide from the shuttle's atmosphere, to fly an extra two days if weather conditions don't allow a landing Sunday.
Sarafin said analysis of images taken today during inspections of Endeavour's heat shields could take 24 hours to complete. He called the STS-126 mission "highly successful."
"Now it's just a matter of getting Endeavour home," he said.
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