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STS-130
Mission: STS-130

Orbiter: Endeavour

Launch Pad: 39A

Launch Date: Feb 8, 2010, 04:14 EST (09:14 UT)

Landing: Shuttle Landing Facility, Kennedy Space Center; Feb 21, 22:20 EST/03:20 UT Feb 22 (deorbit burn: 21:15 EST)

Main gear touchdown: 22:20:31 EST

Nose gear touchdown: 21:20:39 EST

Wheels stop: 22:22:10 EST

Orbital Altitude: 122 nautical miles (140 miles)

Orbital Insertion: 191 nautical miles (220 miles)

Orbital Inclination: 51.6 degrees

Distance traveled: ~5.7 million miles

Crew:- Commander: George D. "Zambo" Zamka; Pilot: Terry Virts; Mission Specialists:- MS1 Kathryn P. "Kay" Hire, MS2 Stephen Robinson, MS3 Nicholas Patrick, MS4 Robert L. Behnken.

Primary Payload: Tranquility (Node 3) and Cupola.
How to watch NASA TV


  • 02/21/10: STS-130: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands at Kennedy Space Center.

    "It's great to be home," Endeavour Commander George Zamka radioed after landing. "It was a great adventure." The shuttle made 217 orbits of Earth since launching on Feb. 8. Endeavour covered about 5,750,000 miles during the flight. - NASA

  • 02/20/10: STS-130: Space Shuttle Endeavour undocks, crew prepares for landing.

    After undocking, shuttle Pilot Terry Virts moved the shuttle to 400 feet ahead of the station, and then flew a full circle around it while camera-wielding shuttle crew members and cameras in Endeavour's payload bay focused on documenting the state of the station with Tranquility and the cupola. - NASA

  • 02/19/10: STS-130: Space Shuttle Endeavour to fly around Station.

    At undocking, the Shuttle's Orbiter Docking System will release its grip on the station’s Pressurized Mating Adapter 2, and springs will push the two vehicles gently apart. Virts will manually fly the shuttle to 450 feet directly in front of the station, and then fly a circle around the station while the shuttle crew members, and the cameras in Endeavour's payload bay, focus on documenting the state of the station and its new Tranquility and cupola modules. - NASA

  • 02/19/10: STS-130: hatches closed, crews prepare for undocking tonight.

    As shuttle astronauts filed out of the forward end of Harmony, Williams formally rang the station bell marking their departure. Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the station at 6:54 p.m. CST today (00:54 UT, Saturday) and land at Florida's Kennedy Space Center at 9:16 p.m. Sunday. - NASA

  • 02/18/10: STS-130: crews prepare to close hatches between the Station and Endeavour.

    The last transfers are first on the agenda for the remaining hours before hatches are closed between the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavour, scheduled for approximately 1:30 a.m. CST on Friday. - NASA

  • 02/18/10: STS-130: crews talk to President Obama, reboost Station.

    President Barack Obama was accompanied by middle school students when he spoke from the White House with the crew members. Several of the students, in the capital for an engineering competition, asked the crew questions. Endeavour Commander George Zamka and Pilot Terry Virts began a 33-minute reboost of the station, using the shuttle's attitude control jets. When it was completed, the station's altitude had been raised by about 1.3 statute miles to an orbit of 219 by 208 miles. - NASA

  • 02/17/10: STS-130: crews begin Endeavour's extra day in orbit.

    Internal outfitting of the new station modules fills up most of the timeline for this extra day on orbit, which was added specifically to support this activity. Crew members will relocate the remaining system racks of the regenerative environmental control and life support system - both Water Recovery System racks, the Waste Hygiene Compartment, and the Oxygen Generation System - into empty rack spaces in Tranquility, and finish setting up hardware in the new cupola module. - NASA

  • 02/17/10: STS-130: EVA3 a success; all Cupola windows opened.

    Endeavour Pilot Terry Virts opened the windows one at a time early on Wednesday, giving spacewalkers Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick an early look into the International Space Station's room with a view that they had helped install. Behnken and Patrick wrapped up their third and final planned spacewalk, a 5-hour, 48-minute excursion, at 2:03 a.m. CST. They completed all of their planned tasks, removing insulation blankets and removing launch restraint bolts from each of the cupola's seven windows. - NASA

  • 02/16/10: STS-130: 3rd spacewalk: Cupola's window shutters to open tonight.

    Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick will remove the insulation from the cupola's seven windows, and Patrick releases launch locks from the windows so Pilot Terry Virts can open the window shutters from inside the module for the first time at approximately 11:30 p.m. CST. - NASA

  • 02/16/10: STS-130: Behnken and Patrick camp out in Quest airlock ahead of 3rd spacewalk.

    Behnken and Patrick began their campout in the Quest airlock about 5:40 a.m. The procedure, with the airlock pressure reduced to 10.2 psi, aims to lower their blood's nitrogen content and minimize the possibility of decompression sickness. - NASA

  • 02/15/10: STS-130: crews prepare for Tuesday's final spacewalk.

    Endeavour's spacewalkers, Mission Specialists Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick spent about an hour and a half early in their day preparing for that excursion. Part of those preparations involved resizing another spacesuit for Behnken. The suit he wore on the first two spacewalk had some communications dropouts. - NASA

  • 02/14/10: STS-130: crews to move Cupola, resume outfitting Tranquility.

    Pilot Terry Virts and Mission Specialist Kathryn Hire kick off the day monitoring the depressurization of the cupola module. This evening, while they operate Canadarm2, station Commander Jeff Williams will operate the common berthing mechanisms for the relocation of cupola from Tranquility’s outboard hatch to the Earth-facing side of the module. - NASA

  • 02/14/10: STS-130: crews to move cupola and open the hatch.

    Terry Virts and Kathryn Hire will latch onto the cupola with the station's robotic arm. They then will move the cupola to its permanent position on the Earth-facing side of the Tranquility node and then open the hatch. - NASA

  • 02/14/10: STS-130: second spacewalk completed, Endeavour to return Feb 21.

    Endeavour now is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center at 9:16 p.m. CST next Sunday, Feb. 21, after undocking from the station at 6:54 p.m. Friday. A new flight day 11, beginning Wednesday afternoon, will support moving two Water Recovery System racks, the Waste Hygiene Compartment and the Oxygen Generation System into Tranquility. That work had been on hold for repairs and test runs. - NASA

  • 02/14/10: Behnken and Patrick successfully complete all scheduled EVA 2 tasks.

    Spacewalkers Bob Behnken and Nicholas Patrick completed a five hour, 54 minute spacewalk at 3:14 a.m. EST. The pair completed all their scheduled tasks. - NASA

  • 02/14/10: Behnken and Patrick complete ammonia tasks, outfit Tranquility.

    Mission Specialists Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick have completed the task of connecting the ammonia loops. They now will spend the remaining time outfitting Tranquility. - NASA

  • 02/14/10: Nicholas Patrick's suit contamminated by ammonia, but spacewalk is going well.

    After Nicholas Patrick removed a quick disconnect cap, a small amount of ammonia crystals was observed. Based on conservative flight rules, Patrick's suit is considered contaminated, although Patrick reported that he could not see any crystals on his suit. - NASA

  • 02/14/10: Behnken and Patrick's second STS-130 spacewalk is underway.

    At 9:20 p.m. EST (02:20 UT), STS-130 spacewalkers Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick switched their suits to battery power, officially starting today's excursion outside the orbiting laboratory. - NASA

  • 02/13/10: STS-130 mission extended; second spacewalk continues work on Tranquility.

    Mission Specialists Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick will hook up exterior fluid lines and do other work on Tranquility during their second spacewalk of the flight, scheduled to begin about 8:10 p.m. CST (02:10 UT). Early in their day, they configured spacewalk tools and worked on another spacesuit for Patrick, to resolve a power supply issue. The crew began an hour-long review of spacewalk procedures about 3:10 a.m. The spacewalkers started their overnight campout in the Quest airlock about 5:40 a.m. - NASA

  • 02/13/10: STS-130: Behnken and Patrick prepare for second spacewalk.

    Mission Specialists Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick will hook up exterior fluid lines and do other work on Tranquility during their second spacewalk of the flight, scheduled to begin about 8:10 p.m. CST (02:10 UT). Early in their day, they configured spacewalk tools and worked on another spacesuit for Patrick, to resolve a power supply issue. The crew began an hour-long review of spacewalk procedures about 3:10 a.m. The spacewalkers started their overnight campout in the Quest airlock about 5:40 a.m. - NASA

  • 02/12/10: STS-130 and Expedition 22 to begin internal work on Tranquility and the Cupola.

    The doors leading to the final U.S. components of the International Space Station are due to open tonight when the crews of space shuttle Endeavour and the station begin internal outfitting of the Tranquility module and the cupola. - NASA

  • 02/12/10: STS-130: Tranquility module installation successful.

    Tranquility was installed at 12:20 a.m. CST Friday over the Indian Ocean west of Singapore. Mission Specialist Kay Hire and Pilot Terry Virts used the station's Canadarm2 to pull Tranquility out of space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay and position it on the port side of the station's 10-year-old Unity module. Tranquility was locked in place with 16 remotely controlled bolts. - NASA

  • 02/11/10: STS-130: Behnken and Patrick to install final components of the U.S. ISS segment.

    A highlight of space shuttle mission STS-130 is just hours away as the shuttle and International Space Station crews prepare to install the final components of the U.S. segment of the station during a spacewalk this evening. - NASA

  • 02/11/10: STS-130 astronauts prepare for tonight's spacewalk.

    Patrick and Behnken began their overnight campout in the station's Quest airlock a little before 7 a.m. CST in preparation for today's first of three spacewalks during space shuttle Endeavour's visit to the orbiting laboratory. They are sleeping in the reduced 10.2 psi pressure of the airlock to avoid decompression sickness, or the bends. - NASA

  • 02/10/10: STS-130: Behnken and Patrick prepare for spacewalk in Quest airlock.

    Spacewalk preparations and water recovery system maintenance highlight the work schedule for the first full day of joint docked operations by the astronauts on space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station. Behnken and Patrick will end their day preparing for Thursday night's spacewalk by camping overnight in the Quest airlock at a reduced atmospheric pressure. - NASA

  • 02/10/10: STS-130: Space Shuttle Endeavour delivers Tranquility and the Cupola to the ISS.

    The Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station at 11:06 p.m. CST Tuesday, delivering the Tranquility module and its new room with a view, the cupola. The shuttle and station crews opened hatches at 1:16 a.m. Wednesday as Endeavour and the outpost flew off the northwest coast of Australia. With the arrival of Endeavour's six astronauts, the station's population grows to 11 and its mass tops 1 million pounds. - NASA

  • 02/09/10: STS-130: Space Shuttle Endeavour to perform Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver.

    At 10:05 p.m., after Endeavour arrives at a point 600 feet directly below the station, Zamka will command the shuttle to slowly rotate so that its underside is facing the station, and Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will photo-document the shuttle's heat shield tiles. That imagery will be sent to the ground for study by specialists looking for any damaged tiles. - NASA

  • 02/09/10: STS-130: Endeavour to dock with station today.

    Much of the day for Commander George Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts and Mission Specialists Kay Hire, Stephen Robinson, Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken was devoted to inspection of the shuttle's heat-resistant tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon surfaces on the wing leading edges and the nose. - NASA

  • 02/08/10: STS-130: crew inspects heat shield, prepares for docking.

    The astronauts onboard space shuttle Endeavour are into their first full day in space and on the way to install the final components of the U.S. segment of the International Space Station. - NASA

  • 02/08/10: STS-130 crew to inspect Endeavour's thermal protection system.

    Commander George Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts and Mission Specialists Kay Hire, Stephen Robinson, Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken began their 13-day mission with an eight and a half minute dash to orbit to begin the pursuit of the orbital outpost, lighting up the central Florida coast as Endeavour arced to the northeast en route to space. - NASA

  • 02/08/10: STS-130: Space Shuttle Endeavour launches from Cape Canaveral.

    Live coverage of the second STS-130 mission launch attempt at Cape Canaveral.

  • 02/07/10: STS-130: First launch attempt scrubbed.

    Managers officially have scheduled space shuttle Endeavour's next launch attempt for Monday, Feb. 8 at 4:14 a.m. EST. The Mission Management Team will meet at 6:15 p.m. Sunday to give the "go" to fill Endeavour's external fuel tank with propellants. Tank loading would begin at 6:45 p.m. - NASA


  • Please follow @TheAnimalRescue & click on the purple button on their site every day: http://theanimalrescuesite.com - sponsors pay for food

  • STS-131: Preflight briefings also will air throughout the day on NASA TV. Preparation of space shuttle Discovery continues on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where today technicians will service the shuttle's hypergolic system. - NASA. How to watch NASA TV: http://is.gd/7Ppvi

  • Today at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-131 astronauts will conduct an integrated ascent simulation before participating in their preflight news conference, airing on NASA TV at 2 p.m. EST. - NASA

  • Hubble 3D captures wonder of spaceflight. The 45-minute film, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, also includes IMAX footage from earlier servicing missions as well as a launch sequence captured by cameras both above Atlantis and less than 60 yards from the solid rocket boosters. http://is.gd/a25oa

  • Space & Astronautics News remains 100% opposed to the use of animals in any science experiments, including space missions. The issue of the ethical treatment of animals is the primary reason I will never cover the Chinese space program. http://is.gd/a21tG

  • via AIAA: Official Complaint Filed Against NASA Monkey Experiments At Brookhaven. NASA's Brookhaven National Laboratory is coming under intense scrutiny this week following complaints that its forthcoming $1.75 million radiation experiment on monkeys violates a score of animal-rights laws. http://is.gd/a20E2

  • North Korea has recently established an independent military division in charge of deploying & operating intermediate-range ballistic missiles, a move indicating the North's determination to continue developing missiles with a range of over 3,000 km. http://is.gd/a1ThL

  • Mars 500: Training Astronauts for a Manned Mission to Mars http://is.gd/a1OLx

  • Project Odyssey, a proposed space training program for citizen astronauts partially financed by Brevard County-based Space Florida, has been on hold pending the outcome of a state investigation of the program's director. http://is.gd/a1Owf

  • IKAROS To Demonstrate Solar Sail Technology This May http://is.gd/a1O1w

  • All of Life’s Ingredients Found in Orion Nebula http://is.gd/a1NQ0

  • The deep space antenna that relayed Neil Armstrong's famous "one giant leap for mankind" declaration from the moon to a rapt American audience will be offline for eight months for repair. http://is.gd/a1NxF

  • SpaceX is planning to test-fire its Falcon 9 rocket today. The 3.5-second hot-firing of its nine first stage Merlin engines is tentatively scheduled for today at Launch Complex 40, a renovated complex that was once used for Air Force/Lockheed Martin Titan rocket launches. http://is.gd/a1NcT

  • President Obama plans to host a conference in Florida next month on his administration's approach to the next step in space exploration. The White House says Obama and top officials as well as leaders in space will discuss the future of U.S. efforts in human space flight. - Associated Press

  • STS-131: Shuttle Will Carry Small Commercial ISS Rack. When the space shuttle Discovery lifts off for the International Space Station next month, a small commercial payload called a NanoRack, tucked into its middeck cargo space, could be a harbinger of how the U.S. hopes to do business in space in the years to come. http://is.gd/9Z6ha

  • Dark, dangerous asteroids found lurking near Earth. NASA's WISE telescope "has spotted several very dark asteroids that have been lurking unseen near Earth's orbit. Their obscurity and tilted orbits have kept them hidden from surveys designed to detect things that might hit our planet." http://is.gd/9Z5ze

  • Due to technical problems with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, part of STS-134's payload to be carried aboard Endeavour, STS-134 might be delayed until 2011, & STS-133 could launch first.

  • Details of the conference, scheduled for April 15, are to be announced later. The White House says President Obama will unveil an "ambitious plan" for NASA. For now, Obama's budget backs private spaceships and developing new rocket technology. - Associated Press

  • Mastracchio & Anderson rehearse first STS-131 spacewalk.

  • Royal Astronomical Society/Institute of Physics: statement on the reforms to the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

  • Videos: The (very) heavy hailstorm which swept through Melbourne, Australia on March 6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlZpjz5sD6U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk6O_y_blJ4

  • North Shore Animal League: adopt cats, dogs, other animals; donate. World's largest no-kill rescue & adoption center http://nsalamerica.org

  • An international panel of experts has strongly endorsed evidence that a space impact was behind the mass extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8550504.stm

  • Scientists may have identified the first specks of interstellar dust in material collected by the Stardust spacecraft. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8550924.stm

  • STS-131 Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test complete; crew flies back to Houston.

  • The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P, better known as GOES-P, is on its way to its final destination in geosynchronous Earth orbit. The Delta IV rocket carrying the GOES-P spacecraft lifted off at 6:57 p.m. EST from Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, shaking Florida's Space Coast as it rocketed away. - NASA

  • The GOES-P spacecraft will reach its precise spot in Earth orbit and separate from the second stage about four hours and 20 minutes after launch. Once in orbit, its name will change to GOES-15. It will be ready for activation after a five-month checkout period. - NASA; image: NASA TV

  • The second-stage engine has cut off after its second burn, starting the second coast phase of today's ascent. This coast phase is an unusually long one, scheduled to last three hours and 43 minutes. At that point there will be a brief burn of the second-stage engine, followed by another short coast phase. - NASA; images: NASA TV

  • Unexpected alarms and stiff upper-level winds proved no match for the Delta IV/GOES-P launch team this evening. The Delta IV rocket carrying the GOES-P environmental satellite rose from the Launch Complex-37 at 6:57:00.334 p.m. EST. The second-stage engine just reignited as planned for a four-minute burn, its second of three burns tonight. - NASA

  • The second-stage engine has cut off, completing the first of its three burns. This milestone is known as SECO-1, meaning, "second-stage engine cutoff-1." Spacecraft and vehicle will coast for about 10 minutes before the second-stage engine fires up for its second burn. - NASA




    Space and Astronautics News is completely opposed to the use of any animals in science experiments, including in space missions.

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