The space shuttle Endeavour is ready for its Friday launch, though there is a small concern about inclement weather, NASA officials said today.
"We're in really good shape," Jeff Spaulding, NASA shuttle test director, said during a Thursday press conference. Technicians fell slightly behind schedule yesterday, but "we have worked really hard overnight to get things caught back up."
The shuttle is on track for a 3:47pm launch, but will the weather cooperate? Kathy Winters, the shuttle launch weather officer, said today that a slow-moving front prompted NASA to increase the chance of weather cancelling the launch from 20 percent to 30 percent.
Florida's Kennedy Space Center is expected to see some isolated storms after 4pm today, which will become more widespread tonight. The storm should be done by 10pm or 11pm and the front is expected to move through overnight, Winters said.
"That's probably not going to cause too much of a delay" and technicians will still be able to start the fueling process tomorrow morning, but the "weather tonight is a concern," she said.
The rotating service structure (RSS), which provides protected access to the orbiter, is scheduled to start moving away from Endeavour around 7pm, but that might be delayed because of weather.
"Teams will have about a four-hour leeway for the storms to clear out with no affect on Friday morning's external tank fueling, now planned for 6:22am," NASA said.
Also of note, a brush fire was reported about three miles from the launch pad yesterday around noon, but Fish and Wildlife officials said the fire is now fully contained. They will burn off any remaining fuel in the area to eliminate smoke on launch day.
If, for any reason, tomorrow's launch does not go as planned, Spaulding said NASA has a launch window available until May 4, during which time the agency will get about four attempts.
The rest of the day, meanwhile, will involve routine tests of the tank, booster, and orbiter, he said.
Tomorrow's launch is expected to have at least two distinguished guests: President Obama and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wife of Endeavour commander Mark Kelly. Giffords was shot at an Arizona shopping center in January and has been recuperating at a Houston rehab facility.
When asked where Obama would be for the launch, NASA officials said that had not yet been determined, but the agency is looking at a number of locations.
Among the items Endeavour will carry to the International Space Station is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS). It will be used to measure cosmic rays to gain a better understanding of cosmic radiation; a challenge for long-duration spaceflight. It might also help uncover the mysteries involved in dark matter or missing antimatter, NASA said. The 15,000-pound AMS is expected to be operational for the rest of the station's life; at least 10 years.
All of tomorrow's launch activities will be viewable on NASA TV and the agency will also post updates on its Twitter feed.