Crew Prepares for Sunday Landing
Origina post date: Saturday, February 20, 2010
A view of Space Shuttle Endeavour from the International Space Station shortly after undocking.
Photo Credit: NASA TV
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Space Shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station at 6:54pm CST after a visit totaling nine days, 19 hours and 48 minutes.
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Endeavour delivered the final addition to the U.S. segment, the Tranquility node, along with the cupola, an observatory module that will be used for scientific observations of Earth and celestial bodies, and as a robotics control room. The station is now 98 percent complete by volume, 90 percent by mass.
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After undocking, shuttle Pilot Terry Virts moved the shuttle to 400 feet ahead of the station, and then flew a full circle around it while camera-wielding shuttle crew members and cameras in Endeavour’s payload bay focused on documenting the state of the station with Tranquility and the cupola.
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After the fly-around, Virts executed two burns of Endeavour’s jets to maneuver the shuttle behind the station and leave the area. Later, Endeavour crew members began the late inspection of its thermal protection system using the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. Commander George Zamka, Mission Specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, and Nicholas Patrick and Virts worked in shifts to examine the reinforced carbon-carbon panels and heat shield tiles on the starboard wing, nose cap and port wing.
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Tomorrow is to be the last full day of orbital activities for the STS-130 crew and will focus on landing preparations. Zamka, Virts and Robinson will check out Endeavour’s flight control systems and steering jets to make sure they’re ready for re-entry.
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The crew's bedtime is 6:14am as it adjusts for scheduled entry on Sunday. The wakeup call is set for 2:14pm. The JSC Newsroom will close at 5am and reopen at 3pm. The next status will be issued after the crew awakens, or earlier if events warrant.
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Post update: 9:30pm EST
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THEY'RE COMING HOME!!!
Landing tonight will be at 10:20pm EST
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Space Shuttle Endeavour fired its engines at 9:14pm EST for the deorbit burn. The STS-130 crew is now headed home for a landing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. at 10:20pm
Keep up to date/watch landing live at links below....
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Read Latest News/Updates
at NASA.gov
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Watch Landing/Mission Live
at NASA TV
ENJOY!!!
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Touchdown!!!
Welcome HOME...
And a job well done!!!!!!
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Info/image taken from the NASA.gov website
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