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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. –  After rollback of the rotating service structure on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour, with its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, are poised for launch.  The rollback is preparation for Endeavour's liftoff June 13 on the STS-127 mission with a crew of seven. First motion was at 10:39 a.m. EDT and completed at 11:18  a.m.  The rotating structure provides protected access to the shuttle for changeout and servicing of payloads at the pad. It is supported by a rotating bridge that pivots on a vertical axis on the west side of the pad's flame trench.  After the RSS is rolled back, the orbiter is ready for fuel cell activation and external tank cryogenic propellant loading operations. The launch will be Endeavour's 23rd flight.  The shuttle will carry the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, or JEM-EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, on STS-127. The mission is the final of three flights dedicated to the assembly of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory complex on the space station. Endeavour's launch is scheduled for June 13 at 7:17 a.m. EDT.  Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-2009-3701

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After rollback of the rotating service structure on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour, with its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, are poised for launch. The rollback is preparation for Endeavour's liftoff June 13 on the STS-127 mission with a crew of seven. First motion was at 10:39 a.m. EDT and completed at 11:18 a.m. The rotating structure provides protected access to the shuttle for changeout and servicing of payloads at the pad. It is supported by a rotating bridge that pivots on a vertical axis on the west side of the pad's flame trench. After the RSS is rolled back, the orbiter is ready for fuel cell activation and external tank cryogenic propellant loading operations. The launch will be Endeavour's 23rd flight. The shuttle will carry the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, or JEM-EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, on STS-127. The mission is the final of three flights dedicated to the assembly of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory complex on the space station. Endeavour's launch is scheduled for June 13 at 7:17 a.m. EDT. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-2009-3701

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After rollback of the rotating service structure on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour, with its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, are poised for launch. The rollback is preparation for Endeavour's liftoff June 13 on the STS-127 mission with a crew of seven. First motion was at 10:39 a.m. EDT and completed at 11:18 a.m. The rotating structure provides protected access to the shuttle for changeout and servicing of payloads at the pad. It is supported by a rotating bridge that pivots on a vertical axis on the west side of the pad's flame trench. After the RSS is rolled back, the orbiter is ready for fuel cell activation and external tank cryogenic propellant loading operations. The launch will be Endeavour's 23rd flight. The shuttle will carry the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, or JEM-EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, on STS-127. The mission is the final of three flights dedicated to the assembly of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory complex on the space station. Endeavour's launch is scheduled for June 13 at 7:17 a.m. EDT. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.

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12/06/2009
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