The museum will display the shuttle horizontally in the pavilion while it builds a new addition to its facility, the Air and Space Center. The Endeavour itself flew on 25 missions into space. Entries included an essay about the name, the story behind it and why it was appropriate for a NASA shuttle, and the project that supported the name. Endeavour was the most popular entry, accounting for almost one-third of the state-level winners. The Endeavour was named through a national competition involving students in elementary and secondary schools. Endeavor first flew in May 1992 on mission STS-49, and its last mission STS-134 was in May 2011. The Endeavour was the fifth and final space-worthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger, which was destroyed 73 seconds after its launch on January 28, 1986. Visit for complete coverage of Endeavour's final mission STS-134 or follow us and on Facebook. You can follow Staff Writer Denise Chow on Twitter. "I think we've done a lot of great science, and certainly I think the space station is in a really good state for the future," Coleman said before leaving the station.Īnother three new station crewmembers are slated to launch to the orbiting outpost on June 7 to round out Expedition 28. After they leave orbit, and once shuttle Endeavour's crew heads home next week, the space station will be home to only three people: NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Borisenko. Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli launched to the space station in December 2010 and have since spent just over five busy months on the orbiting outpost. Two days later, shortly after her funeral, Nespoli and his crewmates observed a minute's radio silence to honor Motta's memory, as the space station flew over Italy. Nespoli was notified immediately by the European Space Agency. The Italian spaceflyer's 78-year-old mother, Maria Motta, died May 2 in her hometown just outside of Milan. Nespoli will be returning home after mourning the death of his mother from space. This view of the space shuttle Endeavour (bottom right) docked at the International Space Station shows the two spacecraft in the docking camera on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as it backed away from the orbiting lab on during the final flight of Endeavour, STS-134. Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli are scheduled to land in Kazakhstan at 10:26 p.m. EDT (0136 GMT Tuesday) before the spacecraft re-enters Earth's atmosphere. The Soyuz will conduct a deorbit burn at 9:36 p.m. The unique images of Endeavour docked at the International Space Station will have some engineering applications, but will also be used to celebrate the legacy of the station and the space shuttle program.Īfter acquiring a series of images and video, Nespoli, Kondratyev and Coleman will continue with their journey home. The maneuver was universally approved by space station mission managers with NASA and Russia's Federal Space Agency. The Soyuz was expected to pause for about 15 minutes, allowing Nespoli to position himself at a window in the Soyuz upper module to take video and photos of the space station and Endeavour. The space station also moved into a different position to provide a better view. (Image credit: NASA TV)Īfter undocking from the space station, Kondratyev backed the Soyuz away toward a point about 656 feet (200 meters) for today's photo session of Endeavour and the station. The shuttle Endeavour's aft section is visible at right. This still from NASA TV shows the Russian Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft (left) as it backs away from the International Space Station.
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