SpaceWeekly.com

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Space shuttle Endeavour’s crew will be awakened about 6:15 p.m. EST for a work day that will focus on using the robotic arm and its Orbital Boom Sensor System extension to check the reinforced thermal protection on the leading edges of Endeavour’s wings and nose cap for any damage that may have occurred on launch. The crew also will prepare for rendezvous and docking and check out the spacesuits Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken will wear for three spacewalks, devoted largely to installation of Tranquility and the outfitting of the new module, the cupola and a docking port that will be relocated during docked operations.

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The space shuttle Endeavour bolted off its seaside launch pad on Monday on a voyage to install the last two main pieces of the International Space Station.

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Air Force Space Command Public Affairs announced its 2009 Media Contest winners…and the winners are:

Best News Article – Staff Sgt. Benjamin Rojek, 30th Space Wing Public Affairs, Vandenberg AFB Calif.; 2nd Place: Staff Sgt. Daniel Martinez, …

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“What a beautiful launch we had this morning… the orbiter performed extremely well,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, during the STS-130 postlaunch news conference. “This is a great start to a very complicated mission.”

Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director general, thanked NASA, the crew and the ground teams for “a very beautiful launch.” Dordain said, “It was an important event. Even more important for us because the shuttle was full of European hardware.”

Mike Moses, shuttle launch integration manager, said the count went unbelievably smooth. He commented how the weather constraints influenced the launch of space shuttle Endeavour and how happy he was that it all came together today. Docking is set for flight day three with three spacewalks planned to install the Tranquility node and then cupola permanently to the International Space Station. “This will be a good example of international partnerships and cooperation between the station crew and shuttle crew,” said Moses.

“This was one of the smoothest countdowns ever,” said Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director. “The team was very, very energized going into the count.”

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Credits: ESA – S. Corvaja, 2010

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About two minutes into flight, the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters propelling Endeavour into space successfully separated and fell away. The shuttle and its crew have safely attained low-Earth orbit.

NASA Television will broadcast a post-launch news conference from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at no earlier than 5:30 a.m. EST on www.nasa.gov/ntv.

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Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts are rocketing toward orbit after a brilliant nighttime liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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The last minutes of Endeavour’s countdown to launch is marked by several steps, including the retraction of the orbiter access arm and the gaseous oxygen vent arm, which holds the “beanie cap” over the external tank.

The ground launch sequencer manages the countdown during the last nine minutes and monitors the shuttle’s systems until the final moments before launch. At the 31-second mark, Endeavour’s onboard computers will take control and ignite the solid rocket boosters and orbiter main engines.

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Space shuttle Endeavour has been cleared for launch this morning at 4:14 a.m. EST.

The mission management team, mission control and the launch team have given a unanimous “go” for launch.

The teams are not working any technical issues and the weather has cooperated over Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour and crew are nearing liftoff at Launch Pad 39A, prepared to begin the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station.

The countdown clock is holding at T-9 minutes. This is the last built-in hold and is scheduled to last about 45 minutes. During this hold the mission management team will conduct its final “go,” or “no-go” decision for launch.

Weather at Kennedy Space Center has improved and currently is “go” for launch and for a return to the Shuttle Landing Facility, if necessary.

Weather over Spain, one of the three Transoceanic Abort Landing, or TAL, sites has cleared and given a “go” by the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at Johnson Space Center in Houston.