Shuttle Endeavour Crew Arrives For Pre-Launch Preps
CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) – The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for prelaunch preparations.
The official countdown is also scheduled to begin Tuesday ahead of Friday's 3:47 pm. launch.
Commander Mark Kelly made a brief statement and introduced his crew to media who were gathered for their arrival.
"We're really happy to be here today," said Kelly. "We got a chance to take look at the orbiter as we first flew over the field and then the over pad. It's great to see Endeavour all ready to go again."
Kelly introduced his crew, talked about how excited they were to fly this mission and deliver the special payloads to the international space station, and how happy he is that his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, will be able to travel to Kennedy arriving in time for the launch on Friday.
"It's something she's been looking forward to for a long time," he said. "She's been working really hard to make sure that her doctors would permit her to come. She's more than medically ready to be here, and she's excited about making this trip."
During NASA's next-to-last shuttle mission, the crew will deliver a $2 billion particle physics experiment. The mission is scheduled for 14 days, but NASA expects to add two bonus days once the shuttle is in orbit.
It will be the 134th shuttle mission overall and the 25th for Endeavour, NASA's youngest shuttle. Endeavour was built to replace Challenger, which was destroyed during liftoff in 1986. Only one other launch remains, by Atlantis at the end of June.
NASA is under presidential direction to hand over orbital trips to commercial companies, so it can focus on expeditions to asteroids and Mars. For the next few years at least, American astronauts will continue to fly Russian capsules to and from the space station, paying tens of millions of dollars per seat.
President Barack Obama also plans to attend Friday's launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. Obama had already planned to be in Florida later that day to give a commencement address at Miami Dade College.
Only two sitting presidents have witnessed a manned rocket launch. President Richard Nixon was on hand for the Nov. 14, 1969, launch of Apollo 12 to the moon. President Bill Clinton and his wife saw Sen. John Glenn fly aboard shuttle Discovery on Oct. 29, 1998. This will be the first time a first family has attended a launch.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
