It's Full of Stars

@propagandery:

Space Shuttle Endeavour gets towed by a Toyota Tundra.

via @Adisms

incredible pic of Endeavour flying through Los Angeles. taken from inside an ad agency just south of LAX, when the shuttle was about 300 feet above ground level.

[credit to Jason Rappaport @jasonrap]

Endeavour Astronauts Talk With Tucson Elementary Students

Endeavour space shuttle commander Mark Kelly (left) and Mission Specialist Mike Fincke aboard space shuttle Endeavour talk to students at Mesa Verde Elementary School in Tucson, Ariz., on May 22, 2011.

The elementary school classmates of a young girl killed in the January shootings in Tucson spoke with astronauts aboard NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour late Sunday to get a glimpse of what life in space is like.

About 400 students from Mesa Verde Elementary School in Tucson, Ariz., stayed up late Sunday night (May 22) for the chance to talk to Endeavour shuttle commander Mark Kelly and mission specialist Mike Fincke as the astronauts sailed 216 miles (347 km) above Earth.

The cosmic call was organized by NASA for Kelly, the husband of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in the Jan. 8 attack that killed six people. Among those killed was 9-year-old Christina Taylor-Green, a student at Mesa Verde.

Keep reading.

APOD: The Last Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour

Credit: NASA

Explanation: Two days ago, powerful yet controlled explosions rocketed the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final trip into Earth orbit. The above image was taken seconds after liftoff as the massive orbiter and six astronauts began a climb to a height where the atmosphere is so thin it is unbreathable. The shuttle, on mission STS-134, is expected to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) today. The Endeavour will deliver to the ISS, among other things, an ambitious detector called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 (AMS), a detector that over the next few years could detect a significant abundance of specific types of dark matter, charged antimatter, and even a strangely possible variation of familiar matter called strangelets. The very last trip for any space shuttle is currently planned for mid-July when Atlantis will also visit the space station.

APOD: Endeavour Looking Up

Credit & Copyright: Ben Cooper ( Spaceflight Now, Launch Photography)

Explanation: First flown in 1992, Endeavour, the youngest space shuttle orbiter, is being prepared for its 25th and final trip to low Earth orbit. Seen here from an exciting perspective 400 feet above the floor of Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, Endeavour (OV-105) is mated to an external tank and solid rocket boosters just prior to roll out to launch pad 39A on March 11. The completed space shuttle stands over 18 stories tall. Intended for an April 19 near sunset launch on STS-134, Endeavour will head for the International Space Station and deliver the AMS cosmic ray experiment. The final flight of Endeavour will be the penultimate planned space shuttle flight.

spacethebeyond:

Here is a great picture of Endeavour landing last night. #sts130 on Twitpic

Lighting the Way Home

Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray, Kevin O’Connell, Scott Haun

With xenon lights flooding the runway, a drag chute slows space shuttle Endeavour as it returns to NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility.

(via NASA)

Installing Tranquility

Image Credit: NASA

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick conducted the STS-130 mission’s first spacewalk on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010. The spacewalking pair finished all their assigned work and some get-ahead tasks. The Tranquility node and cupola were robotically maneuvered from Endeavour’s payload bay, and then installed onto the port side of the Unity node. This was the first of three planned spacewalks for the STS-130 mission.

(via NASA)

spacethebeyond:

unknownskywalker:

Space shuttle Endeavour races to orbit from Launch Pad 39A at 27,000 km/h. [NASA]

STS-130 On Launch Pad 39A

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The space shuttle Endeavour is seen after the rotating service structure is rolled back on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 at Launch Pad 39A of the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Endeavour and the crew members of the STS-130 mission are set to launch on Sunday at 4:39 a.m. EST.

(via NASA)

STS-130 crew is ready for launch on Superbowl Sunday at 4:39 a.m. EST.

(via space.com)