![]() Giffords is not expected to attend the shuttle landing since it is scheduled to dock at 2:35 a.m. Kelly was able to keep informed of his wife's condition by using the Internet phone aboard the space station. NASA arranged for a videoconference between Giffords and Kelly so they would be able to see each other. "It's an appropriate song because that's coming soon." "I know she really, really wants to get back there," he radioed. It also references several places in Tucson, Giffords' hometown. The song, called "Slowness" by the Tucson, Ariz., band Calexico, is about two people reaching across the distance. Gabrielle Giffords who is recovering in Houston from a gunshot wound to the head. ![]() Kelly got a special musical send-off from his wife, Rep. Browse Getty Images premium collection of high-quality, authentic Space Shuttle Endeavour Returns To Earth stock photos, royalty-free images, and pictures. Before leaving the station the crew took photos and also planned a test for a navigation system intended for future spacecraft. “It’s dark outside.The shuttle is scheduled to return to Earth early Wednesday and will be retired to a California museum. “We’re back as we came,” Zamka said after he stepped out onto the runway early Monday. The last time was in 2008, by Endeavour as well. And landing will be in the middle of the night.įor the record, this was the 23rd space shuttle landing in darkness, out of 130 flights. Now liftoff will be shortly before sunrise - technically in darkness - assuming the schedule sticks. That was before Discovery’s upcoming flight was delayed, from mid-March to April 5. 8, it was advertised as the last scheduled nighttime launch for a space shuttle. When Endeavour blasted off in the wee hours of Feb. NASA is being extra careful now when referencing all those “lasts.” On Monday, workers already had begun the final processing for Endeavour’s last flight. Leinbach noted that “a whole series of lasts” are coming up. ferry side of it, once the three remaining shuttles are retired.Īs if to signal the end, Endeavour had no returning space station crew on board. Just days after it was taken off exhibit and as its external tank is scheduled for its brief return to flight, NASAs retired space shuttle Endeavour is heading under wraps. The Obama Administration is proposing that commercial rocket companies take a crack at the U.S. Astronauts will hitch rides exclusively on Russian Soyuz capsules, while cargo will arrive on unmanned carriers. CAPECANAVERAL - NASA sent electrical power surging through shuttle Endeavour onTuesday, signaling the end of a major overhaul and its return to normal launchprocessing. NASA intends to wrap up the shuttle program this fall, after which the space station will be supplied by craft from Russia, Europe and Japan. Discovery will make the next trip in early April.Īs for Endeavour, it’s due to fly one last time at the end of July. The four remaining shuttle flights will stock the space station with more experiments, spare parts and supplies, all critical to the long-term success of the program, said Mike Moses, a NASA manager. ![]() “My goodness, what a machine,” Zamka said. It took three spacewalks to hook everything up.Įndeavour was reported to be in good shape, with no noticeable damage aside from a few dings. ![]() The two new compartments were supplied by the European Space Agency at a cost of more than $400 million. “The view was definitely out-of-the-world,” he wrote in a Twitter update. It also holds the seven-windowed dome, quite possibly the most anticipated addition ever made to a spacecraft.Īt least one of the space station residents, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, watched Endeavour’s atmospheric re-entry from the new observation deck. If you snap photos of the space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station in the night sky, and would like to. Tranquility already is serving as a base for life-support equipment, as well as a gym and restroom. Endeavour and its six-astronaut crew are due to return to Earth June 1. Upon touchdown, Mission Control immediately relayed congratulations to Zamka and his crew for connecting Tranquility and opening those new “windows to the world.” ![]()
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