[sarex] Endeavour Cleared for Landing

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Endeavour Cleared for Landing*

Mission specialists Barbara Morgan, Dave Williams and Commander Scott 
KellyImage above: (From left) STS-118 mission specialists Barbara 
Morgan, Dave Williams and Commander Scott Kelly talk to schoolchildren 
from the La Ronge, Saskatchewan area. Image: NASA TV

TO VIEW IMAGE GO 
TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Mission managers announced today that Space Shuttle Endeavour is cleared 
for landing. The decision came after a thorough review of imagery and 
data collected during late inspection of the orbiter on Sunday.

In space, the seven-member STS-118 crew is preparing for its return to 
Earth aboard Endeavour after a successful stay at the International 
Space Station.

The crew completed tests this morning of Endeavour’s systems and engines 
that will be used for re-entry and landing. Other preparations include 
stowing equipment and a 30-minute deorbit briefing. The crew will also 
have some off-duty time to prepare for Tuesday's landing opportunities.

In other activities, crew members took time out of their schedule at 
11:46 a.m. today to field questions from Canadian schoolchildren from 
the La Ronge, Saskatchewan, area.

Endeavour’s first landing opportunity on Tuesday is at 12:32 p.m. (1632 
UTC)EDT at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., with the deorbit burn occurring 
at 11:25 a.m (1525 UTC). A second opportunity is available at the 
Florida spaceport at 2:06 p.m. (1806 UTC)The deorbit burn would occur at 
1 p.m. (1700 UTC)

+ View STS-118 landing ground tracks 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts118/landing.html> 


Three opportunities are available Tuesday at Edwards Air Force Base in 
California. The first calls for landing at 3:37 p.m., with the deorbit 
burn at 2:30 p.m. The second calls for the deorbit burn to occur at 4:06 
p.m. and landing at 5:11 p.m. The third opportunity would have the 
deorbit burn at 5:43 p.m. and landing at 6:48 p.m.

White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico will not be called up for a 
possible Tuesday landing there.

Meanwhile, mission managers continue to monitor Hurricane Dean as it 
moves westward in the Caribbean Sea.

The STS-118 crew members spent almost nine days at the international 
outpost. They continued the on-orbit construction of the station and 
transferred tons of cargo between the two spacecraft. The STS-118 crew 
conducted four spacewalks at the station. The two major objectives were 
the installation of the S5 and the replacement of a failed attitude 
control gyroscope.

*Hurricane Dean Information*
On-orbit Hurricane Dean Video: + Real Video 
<http://mfile.akamai.com/18565/rm/etouchsyst2.download.akamai.com/18355/real.nasa-global/STS-118/Hurricane_Dean.ram> 
| + Windows Media 
<http://mfile.akamai.com/18566/wmv/etouchsyst2.download.akamai.com/18355/wm.nasa-global/STS-118/Hurricane_Dean.asx>
+ NASA Hurricane Resource Page 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/main/index.html>

*Mission Information*
+ View Barbara Morgan Video 
<javascript:watchNASAOnDemandTV('','http://mfile.akamai.com/18565/rm/etouchsyst2.download.akamai.com/18355/real.nasa-global/sts-118/STS118_Morgan.ram','http://mfile.akamai.com/18566/wmv/etouchsyst2.download.akamai.com/18355/wm.nasa-global/STS-118/STS118_Morgan.asx')>
+ STS-118 Mission Overview 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts118/index.html>
+ STS-118 Fact Sheet (900 Kb PDF) 
<http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/184910main_sts118_factsheet4.pdf>
+ STS-118 NASA TV Schedule 
<http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/mission_schedule.html>
+ STS-118 Briefing Animations 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts118/multimedia/sts118_anim_07102007.html>
+ STS-117 Mission Archive 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts117/main/index.html>