Out With The Old...In With The New(er)

So. Discovery just landed on Wednesday, and now the space shuttle Endeavour is being rolled out to the launch pad! While Discovery may have ended its travels, Endeavour is being prepped for one last mission into space, scheduled for this April.

Discovery was originally built in the 1970s and '80s, and launched on its first mission in 1984. Endeavour is slightly newer, though still old: this space shuttle was built in the late '80s as a replacement for Challenger. So out with the old....in with the new(er)!!

Endeavour's final mission (STS-134) will consist of carrying many spare parts to the International Space Station, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a high-pressure gas tank, some communication antennas, and a micro-meteoroid debris shield. Learn more about this mission, as well as some cool interviews with the astronauts here!

Mark Kelly (sitting in the center of the photo) is the commander of STS-134. His wife is Congresswoman Giffords. Standing, from left, in the above photo: Pilot Gregory H. Johnson,  Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel, and European Space Agency’s Roberto Vittori. Fincke, Chamitoff, Feustel, and Vittori are all Mission Specialists on this flight. In addition, there will be four spacewalks on this flight, although I do not know by who. 


Anyway, I know its still 39 days till launch, but I'm getting excited about this shuttle flight! :)


~Photobug