The Flight Readiness Review for STS-108 was held today at the Kennedy Space
Center. At its conclusion, the Space Shuttle Endeavour was given a go to
proceed toward launch on Nov. 29. The mission will take a fourth crew to
the International Space Station, finishing a record-breaking year of
missions that completed the first phase of the station’s orbital assembly.
“In the past 12 months, we’ve completed some of the most challenging space
flights in history, setting records for the number of space walks that have
been conducted and the amount of hardware we’ve assembled in orbit,” Space
Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore said. “In the next year those
challenges will continue with missions just as complex to service the Hubble
Space Telescope and expand the station. The team continues to excel safely
and successfully. Endeavour is ready to fly.”
Endeavour will be commanded by Dom Gorie (Capt., USN). Mark Kelly (Lt. Cdr.,
USN) will serve as Pilot, and mission specialists will be Linda Godwin and
Dan Tani. Traveling to the station aboard Endeavour to begin a five-month
stay will be Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and flight engineers
Carl Walz and Dan Bursch. Coming home on Endeavour after almost four months
on the station will be Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot
Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin.
Endeavour will carry an Italian-built logistics module named Raffaello to
the station loaded with supplies and experiments. During the shuttle’s stay
at the orbiting complex, one space walk is planned by Godwin and Tani to add
insulation to mechanisms that rotate the station’s solar arrays.
Endeavour is planned to land Dec. 10 at the Kennedy Space Center .
