Live: Rescue Crew Released From Quarantine

The crew that would fly a mission to rescue the Atlantis astronauts has been released from quarantine at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, a move that signals the release of shuttle Endeavour from stand-by status.

Countdown clocks at the Kennedy Space Center press site have switched from a countdown to an STS-400 rescue mission to Mission Elapsed Time for the ongoing Atlantis flight, which is end with wheels stop on the shuttle runway at KSC at 10 a.m. Friday.

LeRoy Cain, deputy shuttle program manager and chairman of the Mission Management Team, will discuss the status of Endeavour and the STS-400 crew at a mission status briefing that is scheduled to air at 1 p.m.

You can watch the briefing live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer, and be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.

NASA mission managers had said Endeavour and the rescue crew would be released after data from the late inspection done by the Atlantis crew showed the orbiter had not been damaged by micrometeorite or space debris. Then yesterday, managers said they would keep Endeavour and the rescue crew on standby until Atlantis performed its deorbit burn and started atmospheric reentry.

Endeavour would have to be launched Saturday in order to rescue the Atlantis crew before the astronauts ran out of power-producing cryogenic reactants, and it appears weather will prevent a landing attempt at KSC on Friday.

The shuttle only has enough power-production capability to remain in orbit until Monday.