Until now, the shuttle stayed at launch pad 39B where it was prepared in case of need for a rescue mission in the event of a malfunction in the shuttle Atlantis that was supposed to carry out the upgrade of the Hubble Space Telescope, however due to the malfunction in Hubble the flight was postponed and the scheduled flight of Endeavor STS-126 is next in line
The seven astronauts who will take off aboard the space shuttle Endeavor to the International Space Station will arrive at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday for a general countdown.
Their arrival was made possible after many hours of work on the shuttle at launch pad 39A, to load the Leonardo cargo component intended for the space station, and an equipment platform for the Endeavour's luggage compartment in preparation for the mission. Leonardo is a reusable container used by astronauts to transport equipment and supplies to the International Space Station. Inside Leonardo is about 10 tons of equipment, including a living facility that will allow the number of astronauts on the station to be increased to six.
Endeavor was moved last week after launch 39B in which it stayed, in case it was required to go on a mission to rescue the astronauts on mission STS-125 to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, but this mission was postponed due to the malfunction in the Hubble Space Telescope that caused it to be disabled. The news in this area is that the Hubble is on the right track for its reactivation, but in any case the flight to upgrade it has been postponed to early 2009.
However, for loading equipment and for most of the work required from an active mission to the space station, NASA prefers to use launch pad 39A. Yes, the 39B launch was supposed to be deactivated after the completion of the standby mission accompanying the Hubble mission, for the purpose of converting it to use in the Orion program.
Mission STS-126, the main purpose of which is to bring essential supplies and equipment to the station, is expected for November 14, at 19:55 Eastern Time (02:55 on November 15 Israel time).
This is only the third time in the entire history of shuttle flights that a shuttle has been transferred from one launch to another. The last time was in 1993 when even then it was Endeavor that moved from Pad 39A to 39 B towards the STS-61 mission and before that it was Columbia that also made the path from the 39A to 39B launch, in 1990 for the STS-35 mission.
