CAPE CANAVERAL, FL.—The long wait may finally be over.
NASA officials are optimistic that the oft-delayed space shuttle Endeavour will launch as scheduled at 8:56 a.m. Monday, with injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in the audience to cheer on her husband, Mark Kelly, the ship’s commander.
“Everything is looking very favorable,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Barrett, of the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. NASA officials say there’s a 70 percent chance of an on-time launch of Endeavour, though they’re keeping an eye on nettlesome crosswinds and the slim possibility of low-cloud cover creating unfavorable conditions.
Endeavour, which was originally scheduled for launch in November, was grounded April 29 because of a hydraulic system glitch--moments before the astronauts were about to board for launch.
Giffords’s presence at the Kennedy Space Center has lent an emotional undercurrent to the final launch of Endeavour, known as STS-134, the second-to-last mission of America’s 30-year-old space shuttle program. She was shot in the head in Tucson on Jan. 8, in an attack that left six dead and 12 others injured.
Giffords, who is rehabilitating in Houston, was flown to Florida by NASA for Monday morning's launch.
“Smooth flight with STS 134 astronaut Greg Johnson’s family,” Giffords reported on her Facebook page. “Thanks to NASA for great fly by of launch pad.” Before the launch, Giffords and her husband spent time together at NASA’s Beach House.
Kelly is hoping to make his fourth flight today, having already logged 38 days in space. His twin brother, Scott Kelly, also an astronaut, recently returned from the International Space Station.
“Hopefully this is it,” Kelly tweeted one day last week. “This is not a drill.”
Giffords was also here for the last attempted launch, along with President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, as well as their daughters, Sasha and Malia. This time, the Obamas will not attend, ceding the stage to Giffords and her astronaut husband.
On Monday morning, Kelly and the other five members of the crew boarded the “Astrovan” bound for Launch Pad 39A. Endeavour, riding piggyback on a huge fuel tank, waited for them, bathed in light from spotlights.
The crew seems to be well fed. “Breakfast consisted of 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, fruit cup and an English muffin. Coffee was bold blend from Rwanda – black,” Johnson tweeted. “Slept great.”
The crew plans to make four spacewalks during its 16-day mission to the International Space Station. It will carry Legos into space to be used in educational programs, as well as worms descended from the worms found in the wreckage of the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle.
But the crew’s biggest task is to deliver a $2 billion particle physics detector known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2. If the high-tech gadget works as planned, scientists believe it could help them hunt for mysteries in the heavens, especially elusive dark matter and strange matter.
Read more at The Washington Post.