NASA announces Endeavour's STS-123 rollout to KSC launch pad

William Atkins
Saturday, 16 February 2008 19:32

Science - Space

With a launch date of March 11, 2008, space shuttle Endeavour will be rolled out to its launch pad on Monday, February 18 for its mission to deliver the Japanese Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Dextre robotic hand to the International Space Station.       

Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), NASA will begin the slower than one mile (1.6 kilometer) per hour journey of the space shuttle Endeavour, consisting of the orbiter, itself, and its external fuel tank (ET) and two solid rocket boosters (SRBs).

The assembly will travel the 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) along the crawlerway in about seven hours, starting from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and ending up at Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.

The trip will be accomplished using a crawler-transporter tracked vehicle while being attached to the two-story Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP), the launch platform that will be used to launch Endeavour into orbit about the Earth.

NASA TV will provide live coverage of Endeavour reaching its launch pad beginning at 6:30 a.m. After rollout event, at approximately 10:15 a.m. EDT, NASA will have the Air Force Thunderbirds fly over Endeavour in celebration of NASA’s fiftieth anniversary.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established by the United States government on July 29, 1958, when it passed legistation called the National Aeronautics and Space Act.

The planned sixteen-day mission of the seven-member crew will deliver the first section of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), also called the Kibo (きぼう in Japanese, and Hope in English) laboratory, by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the two-armed robotic system, Special Purpose Dexteroius Manipulator (SPDM), also called Dextre, from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Please read on for additional information on Kibo and Dextre, along with more information on the STS-123 crew.