Inside KSC News Feeds
08-02-2008, 09:12 AM
Astronauts destined to launch aboard Endeavour this fall swung by Kennedy Space Center on Friday and got an up-close look at the spaceship they'll fly to the International Space Station.
The winged orbiter was cocooned in metal scaffolding inside its processing hangar, but the astronauts nonetheless were able to climb aboard and check out its flight deck and the mid-deck.
"This is a chance for them not to play with mock-ups or anything else, but to actually touch and feel and get used to the real spacecraft and other pieces of hardware that they are going to take with them," KSC spokesman Allard Beutel said.
"All space shuttle crews come down here to Kennedy and actually practice on the real equipment and the real hardware they are going to use when they go up on their mission."
Endeavour and its astronauts are tentatively scheduled to blast off Nov. 7 on a mission to outfit the station for crews of six -- double the current number that serve on expeditions to the outpost.
They'll haul up 14,000 pounds of gear and perform four spacewalks aimed at repairing a rotary joint designed to keep one of the station's massive American solar wings pointed at the sun as the outpost circles Earth.
More... (http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080802/NEWS02/808020336/1007/rss06)
The winged orbiter was cocooned in metal scaffolding inside its processing hangar, but the astronauts nonetheless were able to climb aboard and check out its flight deck and the mid-deck.
"This is a chance for them not to play with mock-ups or anything else, but to actually touch and feel and get used to the real spacecraft and other pieces of hardware that they are going to take with them," KSC spokesman Allard Beutel said.
"All space shuttle crews come down here to Kennedy and actually practice on the real equipment and the real hardware they are going to use when they go up on their mission."
Endeavour and its astronauts are tentatively scheduled to blast off Nov. 7 on a mission to outfit the station for crews of six -- double the current number that serve on expeditions to the outpost.
They'll haul up 14,000 pounds of gear and perform four spacewalks aimed at repairing a rotary joint designed to keep one of the station's massive American solar wings pointed at the sun as the outpost circles Earth.
More... (http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080802/NEWS02/808020336/1007/rss06)