Endeavour to Move to VAB

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:31:41 PM GMT+0530

Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida successfully completed all pressure and leak tests on space shuttle Endeavour this past weekend.

Endeavour's side hatch will be closed for Saturday's move from its hangar in Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Also, the shuttle's final tire pressurization for flight is set for today.

Meanwhile, the STS-130 astronauts will practice techniques for the mission's first spacewalk in the neutral buoyancy lab near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Space Shuttle Mission: STS-130

Image above: Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick attired in a training version of his Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit, awaits the start of a spacewalk training session in the waters of the neutral buoyancy laboratory near NASA's Johnson Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
› High-res image

› Meet the STS-130 Crew

Endeavour's STS-130 Mission
Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour. Terry Virts will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space.

Endeavour will deliver a third connecting module, the Tranquility node, to the station in addition to the seven-windowed Cupola module, which will be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.

Liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is targeted for February 4, 2010 at 5:52 a.m. EST.