Managers Review June Shuttle Launch

On the heels of Atlantis' landing Sunday in California, senior shuttle program managers are meeting today by video conference to discuss the status of the next shuttle mission.

Endeavour is targeted to launch June 13 to the International Space Station, a 16-day mission with five spacewalks that will complete assembly of Japan's Kibo lab.

The program-level Flight Readiness Review will assess the readiness of the shuttle and its payload to meet the target launch date.

Recommendations will be forwarded to an executive-level readiness review scheduled next Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center, where an official launch date will be set.

The launch doesn't have much room for delays. Starting June 20 and running through mid-July, the sun will be at an angle that wouldn't provide enough power to support a shuttle docked at the the station.

KSC technicians are readying Endeavour to roll from launch pad 39B to pad 39A at 12:01 a.m. Saturday - only the fourth time a shuttle will make the 3.4-mile journey from one pad to another.

Endeavour was positioned on pad 39B as part of the unprecedented safety measures taken for Atlantis' mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

With Atlantis at a higher risk of a strike from space debris and unable to reach the station for shelter, Endeavour was on standby as a rescue shuttle.

Soon after Endeavour is in position on pad 39A, its crew of seven is scheduled to fly to KSC on Sunday afternoon for three-days of pre-launch training.

Mark Polansky leads the crew, which also includes pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette, Tom Marshburn and Tim Kopra.

Like mission specialist Mike Massimino from the Atlantis crew, you can follow updates from Polansky on Twitter here.

The crew and NASA managers will preview the mission Thursday during briefings at Johnson Space Center.

You can watch them live starting at 9 a.m. EDT here on the Flame Trench. Just click the NASA TV still image on the right side of the page to launch a viewer.

You can also watch live coverage of Endeavour's Saturday move to pad 39A starting at 6 a.m., and the crew's Sunday arrival at KSC around 2:30 p.m.

IMAGE NOTE: Dawn rises over the Atlantic Ocean behind space shuttle Endeavour on Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on April 18. Surrounding the pad are the lightning towers erected for NASA's Constellation Program, which will use the pad for Ares rocket launches. Endeavour will move to Launch Pad 39A for its upcoming STS-127 mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch June 13. Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis