NASA Aims To Launch Endeavour Early Sunday

Shuttle Endeavour is being readied at Kennedy Space Center for a launch early Sunday on a mission to deliver an Italian observation deck to the International Space Station along with the last large section of the U.S. side of the outpost.

The 18-story spaceship and six astronauts are slated to blast off from launch pad 39A at 4:39 a.m. Sunday, the middle of a 10-minute opportunity to put Endeavour and its crew on course for a docking early Tuesday at the frontier outpost.

NASA and contractor engineers and technicians today are scheduled to begin final vehicle and facility closeouts and check out backup flight systems. The shuttle's avionics systems are to be configured for launch and engineers plan to review flight software stored in shuttle mass memory units and display systems.

Back-up flight systems software in Endeavour's five general purpose computers also will be checked out. The spaceship's navigation systems are slated to be activated and tested around 3 p.m. and engineers around 5 p.m. will complete preparations for the loading of cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into Endeavour's fuel cell system.

The system combines the chemical reactants to generate electricity to power all spaceship systems. Potable water is generated as a byproduct.

The launch pad will be cleared of all non-essential personnel this evening in advance of the fuel cell loading operations, which are scheduled to begin about 10 p.m.

A countdown status briefing is scheduled for 10 a.m.. It will be broadcast live here in The Flame Trench. Click the NASA TV box on the right side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and live coverage.

Taking part in the briefing:

++NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding.
++NASA Payload Manager Joe Delai
++Kathy Winters, shuttle weather officer with the Air Force 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron, which provides forecasting services for all Space Coast launches.

Click "Read More" for your own electronic copy of the Official NASA Press Kit for the STS-130 mission.

++Official STS-130 Press Kit.

Here is a NASA Mission Summary.

And here is a primer on NASA's Final Five Shuttle Flights.

ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enlarge the NASA image of workers ensuring that Endeavour's payload bay doors closed properly around the U.S. Tranquility Module and an attached Italian Cupola, which are to be hauled up to the International Space Station on the first of five final missions before shuttle fleet retirement. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.