14 DAY TRIAL // The seven-astronaut crew that is to fly on the space shuttle Endeavor assembled at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, yesterday, to begin preparations for the planned launch of the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). After a month of delays, brought forth by two successive launch cancellations – on June 13th and on June 17th – the craft has finally passed a full-scale hydrogen tank test, and has received a clean bill of health from NASA engineers.
The assembly mission's objectives are to deliver the Exposed Facility (JEM EF) and the Exposed Section of the Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-ES) to the ISS. These components are the final additions to the Japanese Kibo Experiments Module, and will bring that section of the football field-sized station to full operational capabilities.
“I can tell you that this crew and the entire operations team are both eager and ready to get to work. Hopefully the next time we talk to you will be from orbit,” Mark Polansky, the commander of the STS-127 mission, said upon arrival at the Cape Canaveral landing strip. He was joined on the tarmac by pilot Douglas G. Hurley, and mission specialists Christopher Cassidy, Julie Payette, (of the Canadian Space Agency, or CSA), Thomas H. Marshburn, David Wolf, and Timothy Kopra. The latter is scheduled to replace Koichi Wakata as a flight engineer aboard the ISS, as part of Expedition 20.
A difficult task lies ahead of Endeavor, mission controllers say, highlighting that the mission will last for more than 16 days, during which time five extremely difficult spacewalks will be performed. In addition to completing the massive Japanese module, the astronauts will have to perform very delicate and complex maneuvers using the ISS robotic arm, and to use three cranes in total. Today, the astronauts are anxiously waiting for the first weather forecast for Saturday, and hope that the weather will allow for a clean launch, Space informs.
If the plan goes ahead, the shuttle will lift off from KSC's Launch Pad 39A at 7:39 pm EDT (2339 GMT) on Saturday evening, and will most likely reach the ISS two days later. When it does, the seven astronauts on the spacecraft and the six aboard the orbital facility will make up the largest space population ever recorded in a single place. During other circumstances, the same number of astronauts was obtained, but seven were on a shuttle returning to Earth, three were on the ISS, and three on a Soyuz capsule heading for the station.