After a two-day delay, the countdown to launch of space shuttle Endeavour is under way Monday, July 13 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the shuttle's large orange external tank has been filled with a half-million gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Both propellants have reached "stable replenish," in which small amounts that boil away during the rest of the countdown are replaced. Stable replenish will continue until the final minutes before launch.
The countdown has entered a two-hour, thirty-minute planned hold at T-3 hours. Launch is scheduled for a 6:51 p.m. EDT, with weather being the only concern.
STS-127 Mission Overview
The 16-day mission will feature five spacewalks and complete 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 STS-127 crew members are Commander Mark 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.
LTC Tim Kopra is an Army astronaut with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command. This will be his first space flight.
Social Sharing