NASA Gives Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch Day A Go!

NASA gave a 'Go' for the June 13th launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour after managers at NASA performed readiness reviews for flight. Weather permitting, June 13th 2009 will be the official launch date for the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The STS-127 Mission will last for 16-days and will feature a total of five spacewalks that will allow astronauts to complete the construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to space.

The Kibo module will allow research for space medicine, biology, Earth observations, material production, biotechnology and communications technology. Kibo experiments and systems are operated from the Mission Control Room at the Space Station Operations Facility, or SSOF, at Tsukuba Space Center in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, just north of Tokyo.

Kibo is the largest single ISS module connected today. The Pressurized Module of Kibo measures 36.7 feet long, has a 14.4 foot diameter and has a 33,000 pound mass. The Experiment Logistics Module of Kibo measures 13.8 feet long, has a diameter of 14.4 feet and has a mass of 18,490 pounds.

The STS-127 crew members are Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station.

As always, we'll be providing continuing coverage as the STS-127 mission get's underway.