Endeavor Rollout

Crews moved the space shuttle Endeavour from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to Launch Complex 39A on Jan. 6 in preparation for next month’s STS-130 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The six-hour trip for the shuttle stack — orbiter, external tank and two solid-rocket boosters — started at 4:13 a.m. EST. Endeavour is scheduled to lift off at 4:39 a.m. EST Feb. 7 for a 13-day orbital sortie to the ISS.

Commanded by U.S. Marine Corps Col. George Zamka, the six-member crew is scheduled to deliver the third and final pressurized node to the orbital outpost. Designated “Tranquility,” it will carry the long-awaited station cupola, which will give station crews a 360-degree view of their surroundings through its five windows.

The crew also will conduct three spacewalks to link Tranquility into the station cooling and data systems, help install the cupola and work on the Canadian special purpose dexterous manipulator (Dextre), which was designed to handle many of the maintenance tasks now assigned to spacewalking astronauts.

Endeavour photo: NASA