Endeavour departs the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building for Launch Pad 39 A and an April 19 lift off. The two week mission will be Endeavour's last. Photo Credit/NASA TV
NASA moved shuttle Endeavour from the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A late Thursday and early Friday, setting the stage for the youngest member of the orbital fleet to lift off on a final mission on April 19.
Veteran astronaut Mark Kelly will lead a six-member crew on a 14-day mission to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectromer to the International Space Station.
Endeavour’s move follows by one day shuttle Discovery’s return to Earth following a successful 13-day trip to the station with the final comparrment for the U. S. segment.
Endeavour, lit up on the right, makes her way from the Vehicle Assembly Building, left, to Launch Pad 39A
Kelly’s wife, U. S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D- Ariz., who is recoverying in a Houston hospital from a gunshot wound suffered in early January at a Tucson political rally, plans to attend the lift off, Fox News and other news outlets reported on Thursday.
The AMS will be attached to the outside of the space station, where it will study dark matter and primordial anti-matter.
Endeavour entered service in 1992, serving as the replacement for shuttle Challenger, which was lost in a 1986 launch tragedy.
One final shuttle mission is planned. Atlantis and a crew of four would lift off in late June, if Congress and the White House find agreement on 2011 spending. Atlantis would deliver supplies to the space staiton.