Live at KSC: Endeavour moving to new launch pad

LIVE IMAGES: Refresh this page for updates and the latest still image from NASA TV.

Space shuttle Endeavour is in the home stretch of its morning move from one Kennedy Space Center launch pad to another.

The shuttle began rolling off launch pad 39B at 3:16 a.m., and is expected to be firmly fastened to pad 39A by 10 a.m.

The two shuttle pads are only about a mile apart as the crow flies along the Atlantic Ocean coastline.

But the V-shaped route between pads on the shuttle crawlerway is 3.4 miles. It's a move being made for only the fourth time by a shuttle.

Weather kept Endeavour from beginning its journey just after midnight as originally planned.

The shuttle is preparing for a targeted June 13 launch on a 16-day mission to continue construction of the International Space Station.

There is no room for delays to make that date, said Dana Hutcherson, Endeavour's flow director, in an interview this morning.

"Right now, there's not a lot of wiggle room getting us to June 13," she said.

Endeavour is the last shuttle to sit on pad 39B.

With its departure, the pad will be handed over to NASA's Constellation program.

Modifications will start next week to configure the pad for the first flight test of the rocket NASA is designing to replace the shuttle fleet after its planned retirement next year.

The test flight, called Ares I-X, is targeted to launch from pad 39B no earlier than Aug. 30.

Endeavour was positioned on pad 39B during Atlantis' recent mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour was prepared to launch as a rescue vehicle if Atlantis sustained serious damage.

Atlantis landed safely May 24 at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and is tentatively expected to begin a two-day cross-country flight home to KSC on Monday.

IMAGES: Refresh this page to see the latest still images from NASA TV of Endeavour's move, or click on the image above to launch a NASA TV viewer. The map of Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center shows the crawlerway route between launch pad 39B at left (north), and pad 39A at right (south).