April 29, 2011
Final launch of space shuttle Endeavour set for Friday at 3:47 pm
Kennedy Space Center, Florida - When Space Shuttle Endeavour blasts into space for the final time Friday, the launch will be particularly emotional for the commander on board.
Back on the ground, Cmdr. Mark Kelly's wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, will watch the shuttle's ascent. Three months ago, Giffords was clinging to life after a gunshot wound tore through her brain in January's Tuscon, Arizona, mass shooting.
Kelly will lead a crew that includes pilot Gregory H. Johnson; mission specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff and Andrew Feustel; and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. ET.
Endeavour has logged more than 103 million miles in space, blasting off 24 times, but its 25th flight will be its last.
As NASA's shuttle program winds down with the last launch scheduled this summer, many in the astronaut corps are wrestling with what to do next. For the foreseeable future, Russian rockets will be the only way for U.S. astronauts to get to space.
As shuttle program ends, astronauts want to keep flying
Fincke spent a total of a year in space on the International Space Station, getting there and back twice on Russian rockets. However, it will be his first shuttle flight.
"I think all of us, with all the changes that are going on, with our country's space program and NASA, all of us professional astronauts are looking into our hearts to see what we're going to do next," Fincke said.
Endeavour's first commander reflects on shuttle's final mission
Four spacewalks are planned for this mission. The space walkers will retrieve experiments, install new ones, refill tanks and lubricate parts at the International Space Station.
In its cargo bay, Endeavour will carry the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. At $1.5 billion, it is the most expensive piece of equipment a space shuttle has ever carried.
The AMS is designed to capture space particles like antimatter and dark matter which scientists know very little about but believe exist in the universe. The AMS will be mounted outside the International Space Station. If it's successful, it could lead to a better understanding of how our universe began and evolved.
A few months ago, before his wife was shot, Kelly talked about his upcoming mission.
"Flying in space is a very difficult thing to give up," Kelly said. "I remember after my last flight thinking 'Well, maybe this is the last time I'm gonna do this.' And, you know, you go a couple of months out and you're like, 'Oh, I really hope this is not the end of my flying career.'"
Kelly said that when STS 134, the Endeavour's last flight, is over, "I'll be thinking the same thing, I can't really give this up. I've got to figure out a way to get back into space."
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/29/shuttle.endeavor/index.html
