Latest Space Shuttle Mission Highlights

Last Tuesday 21th at 12:32pm EDT space shuttle Endeavour glided to a perfect landing at the SLF (Shuttle Landing Facility) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after its 13 days mission to the International Space Station.

In this mission, the crew was composed of 6 Americans and 1 Canadian Astronaut. They flew to the International Space Station (ISS) to continue its assembly and bringing it one step closer to completion.

Space Shuttle Endeavour liftoff from its Oceanside launch pad at 6:36pm EDT on August 8^th, 2007. This was the first flight of the ship after four and a half years in an extensive overhaul period.

Right after launch, and due to post-Columbia-accident security measures, the crew focused several hours on inspecting the orbiter´s thermal protection system, this system is a critical part of the ship to ensure a safety return to earth. In this procedure, the crew used a boom sensor system to methodically sweep over Endeavour´s nose cap, wings and maneuvering system in search of possible damage sustained during launch.

Over the rest of the mission the orbiter was approached and docked to the ISS and tasks in conjunction with both crews started. Tasks included transfer of equipment and supplies to the station and 4 space walks to assembly 2 new segments transported in the orbiter´s payload bay and several engineering tasks. Each spacewalk is executed by 2 Astronauts and last between 6 and 8 hours. They usually need one full day to prepare a spacewalk so they don't occur on a day after day basis.

International Space Station assembly and the Space Shuttle program are scheduled to end in September 2010 with expectations of 12 more flights till then as NASA prepares for the next generation of space flight rockets family called "Ares". This new project promises to carry astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade.

The 13-day mission was also highlighted by a series of conversations between students on Earth and crew members including teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan. They have a question-and-answer session from space with students gathered at the Discovery Center of Boise, Idaho.

The astronauts spent their final full day in space stowing equipment and supplies and testing the orbiter's steering jets and flight control surfaces in final preparations for landing. The mission ended on August 21 with a perfect landing at the sunshine state and was one of the best missions that NASA has.