After nearly two weeks in space, the seven members of STS-118 returned to the astronaut crew quarters at Kennedy Space Center to unwind from their mission.
The five men and two women added a new segment to the International Space Station, delivered 5,800 pounds of supplies and equipment and teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan taught lessons from orbit during the mission. Space Shuttle Endeavour, meanwhile, is being prepared at Kennedy to move to the Orbiter Processing Facility.
Engineers and technicians will examine Endeavour closely and then ready it for another flight next year.
Space Shuttle Endeavour Launched The flight placed seven astronauts, a space station segment and 5,800 pounds of cargo and supplies into orbit and on the way to the International Space Station. The 11-day mission calls for attachment of the space station segment, transfer of the cargo and supplies and a test of a new power transfer system. If the system works, the mission would be extended to 14 days.
Endeavour Crew, Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test The seven-member crew of STS-118 arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday evening for the terminal countdown demonstration test. Often referred to as TCDT, the test is a final round of prelaunch training that concludes with a simulated launch countdown for the crew and the launch
NASA's two venerable Voyager spacecraft are celebrating three decades of flight as they head toward interstellar space. Their ongoing odysseys mark an unprecedented and historic accomplishment.
Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20, 1977, and Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977. They continue to return information from distances more than three times farther away than Pluto.
The STS-118 and Expedition 15 crews will continue cargo transfers and prepare for Saturday’s spacewalk. The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts will also hold the traditional joint crew news conference.
The Mission Management Team decided Thursday that Saturday’s spacewalk will not include repair of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s heat shield. After hours of reviewing data and imagery collected during the inspections by the STS-118 crew , the managers decided the damage did not pose a safety risk to the crew or Endeavour.
Galaxy Evolution Explorer has spotted an amazingly long comet-like tail behind a star streaking through space at supersonic speeds. The star, named Mira after the Latin word for "wonderful," has been a favorite of astronomers for about 400 years. It is a fast-moving, older star called a red giant that sheds massive amounts of surface material.
Commands have benn sent and received from the Spaceway 3™ satellite following a successful launch of the spacecraft. All data shows that Spaceway 3 is healthy and operating normally.
An Ariane 5 rocket lifted the Hughes Network Systems, LLC payload into space yesterday at 7:44 p.m. EDT (23:44 GMT) from Ariane Launch Complex 3 in the tropics of Kourou, French Guiana. Boeing's Mission Control Center in El Segundo, Calif., reported spacecraft acquisition five hours, 46 minutes later, when signals were received at the ground station in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa.