Shuttle Endeavour Set for Launch on April 29
NASA officially set April 29 at the launch date for STS-134 (Endeavour) today. The mission, commanded by Mark Kelly, will lift off at 3:47 pm EDT if all goes as planned.
The six-person crew is nominally scheduled for a 14 day mission. Kelly and four other NASA astronauts will be joined by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Roberto Vittori. This will be Endeavour’s last space flight. It is delivering a scientific instrument, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), to the International Space Station (ISS). AMS is designed to detect cosmic rays in the hope of discovering particles of antimatter in particular.
The launch is attracting special interest not only because it is the last launch of Endeavour, but because Mark Kelly’s wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), may be able to attend the launch. She is recovering from an assassination attempt on January 8. Kelly has made clear for weeks that he hopes she will be well enough to attend, but cautions that the decision is in the hands of her doctors.
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