Mission accomplished: Endeavour's dazzling legacy in pictures
The youngest of NASA's shuttle fleet, Endeavour was built with unique upgrades from previous orbiters, including the drag parachute used on landing; modified electrical and plumbing systems in the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO), to allow for extended stays on board (up to 28 days); more-advanced computers and navigation systems; a solid-state star tracker; and improved steering mechanisms.
As a tool of space innovation, Endeavour has contributed to projects that have had far-reaching impacts on the space program, including the major Hubble Space Telescope repairs that improved Hubble's clarity, and 10 dockings with the International Space Station, during which Endeavour delivered and installed major sections of the international space outpost. This week will see the launch of mission STS-134, Endeavour's 25th and final flight, and the second-to-last space shuttle mission ever.
In this photo, Endeavour is seen on February 9, 2010, over the South Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern Chile, at an altitude of 183 miles. The craft is silhouetted against the Earth as it prepares to dock with the International Space Station.
The orange troposphere, where all of the clouds we see from Earth are generated and contained, gives way to the whitish stratosphere and then to the mesosphere.
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
This was just the eighth night landing of the shuttle since the program began in 1981, and only the third night landing ever at Kennedy Space Center.
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
Astronauts Peggy A. Whitson, Expedition Five flight engineer, and Carl E. Walz, Expedition Four flight engineer, attached the MBS to the Mobile Transporter during a spacewalk on June 10, 2002. The MBS is an important part of the station's Mobile Servicing System, which will allow the station's robotic arm to travel the length of the station to perform construction tasks.
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA astronauts Terry Virts, STS-130 pilot, and Kathryn Hire, mission specialist, are seen here moving the cupola, operating the station's robotic arm from controls inside the Destiny laboratory on February 15, 2010.
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
This Endeavour mission notably helped set a record for the most humans in space at the same time in the same vehicle, when, after docking, the ISS and Endeavour crews consisted of 13 people at the station at the same time.
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
Two radar antennas, one located in the payload bay, the other on a 200-foot mast extending from the payload bay, obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale, generating what was at the time the most complete high-resolution topographic database of the Earth's surface.
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
Here we see a view from inside the cupola, taken on February 17, 2010, with a view of the Sahara desert.
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
NASA launches Endeavour's final flight
With its contributions to the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope, which continues to return stunning images from deep within space, space shuttle Endeavour is sure to continue to provide humanity with the gift of exploration years after it has flown its final mission.