SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR (STS-127)

Endeavour’s flight will deliver the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station. The 16-day mission will include five spacewalks and the installation of two platforms outside of the Japanese module. One platform is permanent and will serve as a type of porch for experiments that require direct exposure to space. The other is an experiment storage pallet that will be detached and returned with the shuttle. During the mission, Kibo’s robotic arm will exchange three experiments from the palette to the platform. Future experiments also can be transferred to the platform from the inside using the laboratory’s airlock. Endeavour  also will deliver a new crew member and bring back another after more than three months aboard the station.

Source: NASA

Space shuttle Endeavour is in place at Launch Pad 39A, Friday, June 12, 2009 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Endeavour is undergoing final preparations for its upcoming 16-day mission to the International Space Station. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls)