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| In
the 16th night landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center,
space shuttle Endeavour approaches Runway 15 to end the
STS-123 mission on March 26th, 2008 - a 16-day flight to
the International Space Station. The mission completed
nearly 6.6 million miles. The STS-123 mission had
delivered the first segment of the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian
Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, known as Dextre.
Endeavour will soon be transported to the Orbiter
Processing Facility to ready it for its next mission,
STS-126. (NASA/Tom Joseph |
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| In the
Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2, technicians on the
Hyster forklift maneuver main engine 1 for installation
on space shuttle Endeavour on June 30th, 2008. (NASA/Jim
Grossmann) |
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| Inside
Orbiter Processing Facility 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center, a United Space Alliance technician installs
Boeing Replacement Insulation 18, or BRI-18, tile on
space shuttle Endeavour during processing activities on
July 19th, 2008. BRI-18 is the strongest material used
for thermal insulation on the orbiters and, when coated
to produce toughened unipiece fibrous insulation,
provides a tile with extremely high-impact resistance.
It is replacing other tiles on areas of the vehicle
where impact risk is high, such as the landing gear
doors, the wing leading edge and the external tank
doors. (NASA/Jack Pfaller |
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| Inside
Orbiter Processing Facility 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center, a United Space Alliance technician installs
Boeing Replacement Insulation 18, or BRI-18, tile on
space shuttle Endeavour during processing activities on
July 19th, 2008. BRI-18 is the strongest material used
for thermal insulation on the orbiters and, when coated
to produce toughened unipiece fibrous insulation,
provides a tile with extremely high-impact resistance.
It is replacing other tiles on areas of the vehicle
where impact risk is high, such as the landing gear
doors, the wing leading edge and the external tank
doors. (NASA/Jack Pfaller |
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| Workers
accompany space shuttle Endeavour as it rolls toward the
Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
on September 11th, 2008. In the VAB, Endeavour will be
attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket
boosters. After additional preparations are made, the
shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39B. Endeavour
was to serve as the backup shuttle, if needed for
rescue, for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope targeted for October
(mission later postponed until 2009). (NASA/Troy Cryder |
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| Space shuttle
Endeavour is raised off the orbiter transporter by an
overhead crane in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle
Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on
September 11th, 2008. The shuttle will be lifted into
high bay 1 for mating with its external fuel tank and
solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are
made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39B.
(NASA/Kim Shiflett |
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| Seen in this
view, looking up at space shuttle Endeavour is slowly
lowered into high bay 1 of the Vehicle Assembly Building
at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, for mating with its
external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters. Photo
taken September 11th, 2008. (NASA/Kim Shiflett)
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| At NASA's
Kennedy Space Center, a technician (lower left) monitors
the progress of space shuttle Endeavour as it is lowered
into high bay 1 of the Vehicle Assembly Building on
September 11th, 2008, for mating with its external fuel
tank and solid rocket boosters, waiting below. (NASA/Kim
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| Space shuttle
Atlantis (foreground) sits on Launch Pad A and Endeavour
on Launch Pad B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida on September 20th, 2008. At the left of each
shuttle are the open rotating service structures with
the payload changeout rooms revealed. The rotating
service structures provide protection for weather and
access to the shuttle. For the first time since July
2001, two shuttles are on the launch pads at the same
time at the center. Endeavour will stand by at pad B in
the unlikely event that a rescue mission is necessary
during space shuttle Atlantis' upcoming mission to
repair NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, targeted to launch
Oct. Read more... |
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| Workers
accompany space shuttle Endeavour as it rolls toward the
Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
on September 11th, 2008. In the VAB, Endeavour will be
attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket
boosters. After additional preparations are made, the
shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39B. Endeavour
was to serve as the backup shuttle, if needed for
rescue, for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope targeted for October
(mission later postponed until 2009). (NASA/Troy Cryder |
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| On Launch Pad
39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the
orbiter access arm and White Room are extended toward
space shuttle Endeavour after rollback of the rotating
service structure on November 14th, 2008. The rotating
structure provides protected access to the shuttle for
changeout and servicing of payloads at the pad. It is
supported by a rotating bridge that pivots on a vertical
axis on the west side of the pad's flame trench.
(NASA/Kim Shiflett |
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| In the White
Room on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, STS-126 Mission Specialist Shane Kimbrough is
helped by suit technicians to get into his harness on
November 14th, 2008. In the background is another crew
member waiting to enter space shuttle Endeavour. STS-126
is the 124th space shuttle flight and the 27th flight to
the International Space Station. (NASA/Sandra
Joseph-Kevin O'Connell) |
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| Light-filled
clouds of smoke and steam roll across Launch Pad 39A at
NASA's Kennedy Space Center as space shuttle Endeavour
hurtles into the night sky on the STS-126 mission on
November 14th, 2008. Liftoff was on time at 7:55 p.m.
EST.(NASA/Sandra Joseph-Kevin O'Connell)
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| In this
handout from NASA, the Space Shuttle Endeavour's
approaches the International Space Station before
docking with the International Space Station while in
orbit November 16, 2008. The shuttle's 15-day mission to
the space station will include delivering needed
supplies and four spacewalks. (NASA via Getty Images) |
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| Back on
Earth, NASA's Solid Rocket Booster Retrieval Ship
Freedom Star tows along its side one of the spent
booster rockets from the space shuttle Endeavour launch
Nov. 14 on the STS-126 mission. The ship is returning
the spent rocket to Hangar AF at Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station in Florida. The space shuttle's solid
rocket booster casings and associated flight hardware
are recovered at sea. The boosters impact the Atlantic
Ocean approximately seven minutes after liftoff. The
splashdown area is a square of about six by nine
nautical miles located about 140 nautical miles
downrange from the launch pad. (NASA/Kim Shiflett)
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| Parachutes
recovered from sea after the launch of space shuttle
Endeavour on the STS-126 mission are seen suspended from
a hanging monorail system at the Parachute Refurbishment
Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
parachutes are used to slow the descent of the solid
rocket boosters that were jettisoned during liftoff. The
monorail will transport each parachute into a
30,000-gallon washer and a huge dryer heated with
140-degree air at 13,000 cubic feet per minute. One
pilot, one drogue and three main canopies per booster
slow the booster’s fall from about 360 mph to 50 mph.
After the chutes are cleaned and repaired, they must be
carefully re-packed into their bags so they will deploy
correctly the next time they are used. (NASA/Jim
Grossmann)
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| Parachutes
recovered from sea after the launch of space shuttle
Endeavour on the STS-126 mission are seen suspended from
a hanging monorail system at the Parachute Refurbishment
Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
parachutes are used to slow the descent of the solid
rocket boosters that were jettisoned during liftoff. The
monorail will transport each parachute into a
30,000-gallon washer and a huge dryer heated with
140-degree air at 13,000 cubic feet per minute. One
pilot, one drogue and three main canopies per booster
slow the booster’s fall from about 360 mph to 50 mph.
After the chutes are cleaned and repaired, they must be
carefully re-packed into their bags so they will deploy
correctly the next time they are used. (NASA/Jim
Grossmann)
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| Space shuttle
Endeavour Mission Specialist Steve Bowen (center) is
seen on November 18, 2008 as he works at the starboard
truss of the International Space Station during the
first of four planned spacewalks for the STS-126
mission. (NASA/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| A thirty
second camera exposure reveals the path of the
International Space Station and the docked space shuttle
Endeavor as the spacecraft make their way over
Watertown, Wisconsin on Friday, November 21st, 2008. The
two brightest planets pictured in the lower center of
the frame are Jupiter, above, and Venus, below. (AP
Photo/Watertown Daily Times, John Hart)
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| A thirty
second camera exposure reveals the path of the
International Space Station and the docked space shuttle
Endeavor as the spacecraft make their way over
Watertown, Wisconsin on Friday, November 21st, 2008. The
two brightest planets pictured in the lower center of
the frame are Jupiter, above, and Venus, below. (AP
Photo/Watertown Daily Times, John Hart)
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The Space Shuttle Endeavour lands in the
Mojave Desert at Edwards Air Force Base near
Rosamond, California - instead of the
Kennedy Space Center in Florida because of
deteriorating weather conditions on November
30, 2008. The landing concludes mission
STS-126 to the International Space Station
November 14 to prepare the space station for
long-duration missions. (David McNew/Getty
Images)
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| A parachute
deploys as the space shuttle Endeavour touches down at
Edwards Air Force Base, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008 in
California. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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| At Edwards
Air Force Base in California, photographers and
journalists circle STS-126 crew members before their
departure for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on
December 1st, 2008. The crew took time to talk to the
media before they left. (NASA/Tony Landis, VAFB |
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| Bathed under
floodlights as the sun sets, Mike Mangione of United
Space Alliance, puts star tracker covers in the nose of
the space shuttle Endeavour, inside the Mate-Demate
Device, as it is readied to be mounted aboard a NASA 747
for its return trip to Florida, at Edwards Air Force
Base, California, Friday, Dec. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Reed
Saxon)
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| The space
shuttle Endeavour, fresh from the STS-126 mission and
mounted atop its modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft,
flies over California's Mojave Desert on a three-day
trip back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on
Wednesday Dec. 10, 2008. NASA officials said Wednesday
Dec. 17, 2008 that it is looking for ideas on where and
how best to display its space shuttles once they stop
flying in a few years. Beware: NASA estimates it will
cost about $42 million to get each shuttle ready and get
it where it needs to go, and the final tab could end up
much more. The estimate includes $6 million to ferry the
spaceship atop a modified jumbo jet to the closest major
airport. (AP Photo/NASA) |
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| People watch
as the space shuttle Endeavour, on top of a modified 747
jet that carried it cross-country from California,
prepares to touch down on the runway after returning to
Kennedy Space Center December 12, 2008 in Cape
Canaveral, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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| The space
shuttle Endeavour returns atop a NASA 747 aircraft to
the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida
December 12, 2008. (REUTERS/NASA/Handout)
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| The shuttle
carrier aircraft, or SCA, and its piggyback passenger
space shuttle Endeavour are poised to enter the mate/demate
device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida. The device will lift the
shuttle and put it back on the ground. (NASA/Kim
Shiflett |
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| After dark,
at the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour
has been attached to the sling that will lift the
shuttle away from the shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA,
underneath. After Endeavour is on the ground, it will be
towed via the two-mile tow-way from the SLF by a
diesel-powered tractor to the Orbiter Processing
Facility where it will begin preparations for its next
mission, STS-127, targeted for May 2009. (NASA/Jim
Grossmann)
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| Before dawn,
at the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour
is suspended by a sling under the mate/demate device.
The shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA, seen below, has
just rolled away. (NASA/Jim Grossmann)
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| Space shuttle
Endeavour is towed by a diesel-powered tractor into the
Orbiter Processing Facility, or OPF, at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida on December 13th, 2008. In the
OPF, Endeavour will begin preparations for its next
mission, STS-127, targeted for May 2009. (NASA/Jack
Pfaller)
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