Space Construction Marathon Ready

by patgarcia | June 10, 2009 at 05:57 am

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Update: June 13

CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida) - NASA delayed the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on Saturday by at least four days because of a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak similar to one that cropped up three months ago.

The countdown was halted shortly after midnight, about 2 hours into the fueling of the external tank and less than seven hours before Endeavour was due to blast off on the space station construction mission. The astronauts had yet to suit up.

Leading Endeavour's crew is Polansky.53 a veteran U.S Air force test pilot who joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1996 is blogging the mission at Twitter @Astro_127.
Endeavour's pilot is U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Doug Hurley, 42, who will begin the first spaceflight of his astronaut career when the shuttle blasts off.

Rookie astronaut Chris Cassidy, a veteran U.S. Navy SEAL, is the Navy commander part of the shuttle's four-man spacewalking team, he will become the 500th person in history to reach space once the shuttle launches.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette, 45, a native of Montreal Quebec is the only non-American on Endeavour's crew and the mission's robotic arm expert. He will join another Canadian astronaut, Robert Thirsk, who is part of the station's six-man crew. It will be first time two Canadians have been in space at the same time.

A former emergency room doctor and NASA flight surgeon, Tom Marshburn is Endeavour's Mission Specialist 3 in addition to his medical degree, Marshburn holds degrees in physics and engineering physics.

Astronaut Dave Wolf from Indianapolis and veteran of Endeavour's crew is also the shuttle's spacewalking chief with the experience of four spacewalks.

U.S. Army Col. Tim Kopra, a 45-year-old test pilot from Austin, Texas is Rounding out Endeavour's crew as NASA flight engineer Kopra will replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata as part of the station's first full six-person crew.

Seven astronauts are gearing up for what they expect to be a grueling orbital construction mission to the International Space Station this week aboard the shuttle Endeavour.

Veteran shuttle commander Mark Polansky and six crewmates will blast off aboard Endeavour early Saturday on an ambitious mission to complete the space station's massive Japanese Kibo laboratory. Liftoff is set for 7:17 a.m. EDT (1117 GMT) from NASA's seaside spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Endeavour is poised to fly a marathon 16-day flight packed with five spacewalks and complicated robotic arm work to install a porch-like external experiment platform, spare space station parts and perform maintenance work.