Space shuttle Endeavour’s crew members are getting ready to return to Earth for the final time on Wednesday, June 1, completing a 16-day mission to outfit the International Space Station (ISS). Final preparations for its planned landing at 2.35 a.m. at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is underway, as the crew is preparing to stow the Ku-Band antenna, used for high-data rate communications and television from space, and will go to sleep at 9:56 a.m.
During the 16-day mission, Endeavour and its crew delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which will help determine the origins of the universe and how it was formed. The crew also took spare parts, including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre.
The crew members for space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 mission are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori.
Commander Kelly, husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who is still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head that almost claimed her life in January earlier this year, told reporters on Monday that, his leading the mission was the “right decision” and that his wife was making good progress with her recovery. He added that, “pretty soon she will become an outpatient.”
Following Endeavour’s return, there is one more shuttle flight, Altantis, which is scheduled to go into space in early July.
