Space Shuttle Endeavour

The story of the space shuttle Endeavour is one marked by many triumphs but bookended by a pair of tragedies.

Endeavour was the fifth and final space shuttle to enter NASA's fleet. The space agency had not planned to build an additional orbiter. However, the tragic loss of the space shuttle Challenger and its seven-member crew in 1986 changed that plan.

Rockwell International began construction of Endeavour on Sept. 28, 1987, and the company rolled the orbiter out of its Palmdale, California assembly plant in April 1991. The vehicle was flown to Florida atop a modified Boeing 747 to join Columbia, Discovery, and Atlantis at Cape Canaveral.

The ship's name was chosen from among 6,154 suggestions submitted by more than 70,000 elementary and secondary school students. Endeavour honors an 18th century ship that British explorer James Cook sailed across the South Pacific in 1768. The name of Cook’s other ship, Discovery, was used for NASA’s third orbiter.

Space shuttle Endeavour flew its first mission on May 7, 1992. The main mission of the seven-member crew commanded by Daniel Brandenstein was to rescue the Intelsat VI satellite, which had been stranded in low earth orbit due to a launch failure.

It was a difficult task that required three extravehicular activities (EVAs). During the first two attempts, the astronauts were unable to latch onto Intelsat VI using a capture bar. Finally, on an unscheduled third spacewalk, three astronauts captured the massive satellite by hand and brought it gently into the cargo bay. They fitted Intelsat VI with a new upper stage rocket, which sent it into a geosynchronous orbit.

Endeavour had a number of notable achievements during its 25 flights into space. In 1993, it performed the first servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts installed corrective optics to fix a defect in the mirror that had left Hubble with blurred vision. They also installed a new set of solar arrays and upgraded several instruments aboard the observatory.

Other highlights of Endeavour's flight history include: docking with the Russian space station Mir; retrieving the Japanese Space Flyer Unit and European Retrievable Carrier; and delivering the Unity module, Canadian Dextre robot, and the first element of Japan’s Kibo module to the International Space Station (ISS).

Endeavour's 25th and final mission was flown on May 16, 2011. The six-member crew commanded by Mike Kelly brought supplies and scientific equipment to ISS during its 12-day mission. Kelly flew the mission with a heavy heart. His wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was still recovering after being shot in the head four months earlier. 

Endeavour touched down for the final time at the Kennedy Space Center on June 1, 2011. It had flown nearly 123 million miles during 299 days in space and safely carried 173 astronauts.

The space shuttle Endeavour will be on permanent display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles beginning in 2012. The orbital will rest not far from where it was built in Palmdale, Califorinia.

THE NUMBERS

Total miles traveled: 122,883,151
Total time in space: 299 days
Total orbits: 4,671
Total flights: 25
Total crew: 173
Mir dockings: 1
International Space Station visits: 12

Links for Space Shuttle Endeavour

NASA Space Shuttle website

Shuttle Endeavour Fact Sheet

 

 

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