NASA Endeavour Gets Set, awaits the ‘Go’ (PHOTOS)
According to NASA's official site, Space Shuttle Endeavour is slated to be launched at 8:56 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 16.
While NASA forecasts of 70 percent chance of favorable weather for Endeavour’s liftoff, fueling of the space shuttle tank with more than 500,000 gallons of super cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen began late Sunday night and was reportedly completed in three hours.
The rollback of the Rotating Service Structure at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, had also begun about 15 minutes ahead of schedule and retraction was completed well in time on Sunday noon. That leaves no issues that would delay launch, reports NASA.
Endeavour and its six-man crew will deliver a unique astronomical and particle physics experiment to the International Space Station. The $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is designed to illuminate dark matter and other exotic forms of nature that so far have eluded scientists' grasp, Reuters reported.
As Endeavour is readied to embark on its mission to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and spare equipment to the Space Station, check out the latest pictures of the space shuttle below, on its mark:
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