NASA confirmed the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour will launch on March 11 for a 16-day mission, according to media reports Sunday.
The NASA mission management on Friday confirmed the official launch time of the Endeavour. On March 11 at 2:28 a.m. EDT, the space shuttle will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It will be the first of three flights to deliver a huge Japanese research complex to the International Space Station.
NASA's new shuttle program manager, John Shannon, said: "It will be a long and complicated flight. The crew has five spacewalks and the shuttle carries major space station pieces from two countries: Japan and Canada."
The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour STS-123 (L to R) commander Dominic Gorie, mission specialist Garrett Reisman, pilot Gregory H. Johnson, mission specialist's Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman, Takao Doi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Rick Linnehan assemble for a photo near launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida Feb. 24, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) The Endeavour crew includes two of NASA's most experienced fliers, four rookies and Japan's Takao Doi, who participated in a shuttle research mission in 1997.
The seven-man crew is scheduled to spend two weeks at the space station to install a storage room for Japan's Kibo laboratory complex and outfit the station's Canadian-built robot arm with a mechanical hand.
The second portion of Kibo, which is a Japanese word for "hope," is being prepared for launch in late May. The third segment, an outdoor porch for exposing experiments to space, will follow in 2009.
Source:Xinhua/Agencies
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article