Mission: STS-126, 27th station flight (ULF2)
Orbiter: Endeavour (OV-105)
Mission Number: Shuttle flight No. 125
Launch Date: Nov 14, 2008, 19:55 EST/00:55 UT
Launch Pad: 39A map  weather
Docking: Nov 16, 17:01 EST/22:01 UT
Mission Elapsed Time: 15 days, 20 hrs, 30 mins, 34 secs
[Chamitoff spent 183 days in space, 179 aboard the ISS, where Magnus remains]
EVAs: 4
Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, California
Landing: November 30, 2008:
main landing gear touchdown: 15:25:06 CST
nose gear: 15:25:21 CST
wheels stop: 15:26:03
Distance Traveled: 6,615,109 miles
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Primary Payload: Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM)
Crew: Mission Commander: Christopher J. Ferguson; Pilot: Eric A. Boe; Mission Specialists: Stephen G. Bowen, Donald R. Petit, Robert S. Kimbrough, Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, launch: Sandra H. Magnus (Flight Engineer, NASA science officer, Expedition 17, 18), landing: Gregory Chamitoff (Expedition 17 Flight Engineer) Crew portrait
Contingency Shuttle Crew Support Mission: STS-319 (Rescue STS-126) - Discovery (OV-103).
Video: Windows Media Player .wmv format
STS-126 launches 2.07 MB
STS-126 ready for launch on Pad 39A 1.57 MB
Crew walks out to Astrovan 2.36 MB

9 a.m. CST Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

STS-126 Mission Control Center Status Report #10

Moving of supplies and equipment between Endeavour and the International Space Station and installation in the station of equipment are on today's agenda for the 10 members of the spacecraft's crews.

They also will begin preparations for the second of four mission spacewalks, this one to start at 12:45 p.m. CST Thursday. The preparations include a spacewalk procedure review for shuttle astronauts and station Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus. Subsequently spacewalkers Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Shane Kimbrough will begin the standard pre-spacewalk campout in the station's Quest airlock.

Endeavour crew members, Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Don Pettit, Steve Bowen, Piper, Kimbrough and Greg Chamitoff, were awakened at 7:55 a.m. CST. The song was 'Fanfare for the Common Man' by Aaron Copeland. It was played for Boe.

The Waste and Hygiene Rack, which includes a new toilet, was moved into the station Tuesday and installed in the U.S. laboratory Destiny. To be moved to the station today and installed in the Harmony node are the port and starboard crew quarters. That job will be handled by Chamitoff and Magnus.

The Multi-purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Leonardo will be on the receiving end for some of the equipment moved. A resupply stowage rack is scheduled to be moved from the Harmony node to the MPLM by Chamitoff and Magnus after the crew quarters installation.

The campout by spacewalkers Piper and Kimbrough is to begin at 10:20 p.m., immediately after the procedure review. They will be in Quest overnight, with its pressure at 10.2 psi compared to the station's 14.7 psi, to reduce their systems' nitrogen content. That is to avoid the possibility of decompression sickness.

Piper and Bowen will talk with reporters from Associated Press, KSMP-TV in Minneapolis and WCVB-TV in Boston. That 20-minute chat is to begin at 2:50 p.m.

Endeavour's crew is scheduled to go to bed at 11:55 p.m. today and be awakened at 7:55 a.m. Thursday. The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew day, or earlier if events warrant.

Nov 18: Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, STS-126 mission specialist, participates in the mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Nov 18: Astronaut Steve Bowen, STS-126 mission specialist, participates in the mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 52-minute spacewalk, Bowen and astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (out of frame), mission specialist, worked to clean and lubricate part of the station's starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ) and to remove two of SARJ's 12 trundle bearing assemblies. The spacewalkers also removed a depleted nitrogen tank from a stowage platform on the outside of the complex and moved it into Endeavour's cargo bay. They also moved a flex hose rotary coupler from the shuttle to the station stowage platform, as well as removing some insulation blankets from the common berthing mechanism on the Kibo laboratory. Credit: NASA

STS-126 Mission Coverage

- courtesy of NASA