{"id":424827,"date":"2011-05-16T12:57:49","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T12:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/16\/endeavour-launches-one-last-time\/"},"modified":"2011-05-16T12:57:49","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T12:57:49","slug":"endeavour-launches-one-last-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/16\/endeavour-launches-one-last-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Endeavour launches one last time"},"content":{"rendered":"

16 May 2011<\/span> Last updated at<\/span> 08:57 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By Jonathan Amos<\/span> Science correspondent<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Space<\/p>\n

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The shuttle soared into the sky over the Kennedy Space Center<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The US space shuttle Endeavour has launched on its final mission.<\/p>\n

Its thunderous rise into a bright morning sky over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators.<\/p>\n

Among them was Endeavour commander Mark Kelly’s wife, Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona politician shot in the head by a gunman in January.<\/p>\n

Doctors were satisfied enough with her progress to allow her to travel to Kennedy to see her husband’s departure.<\/p>\n

“This mission represents the power of teamwork, commitment and exploration,” the commander said in a radio call to launch controllers moments before lift-off. “It is in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop.”<\/p>\n

Endeavour cleared the pad just after 0856 local time (1256 GMT; 1356 BST).<\/p>\n

Kelly and his crew are on a path to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

They will deliver a $2bn particle physics experiment, known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), and a tray of critical spare parts to the orbiting platform.<\/p>\n

On Endeavour’s return, the only active ship left in the US space agency’s (Nasa) shuttle fleet will be Atlantis.<\/p>\n

It should undertake its final mission sometime in in July.<\/p>\n

On completion of the 30-year shuttle programme, America will use Russian Soyuz capsules to fly its astronauts to the ISS.<\/p>\n

A number of US national commercial carriers should are expected to enter into service around the middle of the decade.<\/p>\n

Nasa will then buy seats in these astronaut “taxis”. The arrangement will represent a major change in the way the agency does business. No longer will it own the vehicles it uses to go to low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

This servicing plan should free up resources for Nasa to build an astronaut Space Launch System capable of travelling beyond the station, to the Moon, asteroids and to Mars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read this article:
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