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

10 a.m. CST Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

STS-126 Mission Control Center Status Report #18

Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke will continue work on Sunday on a system in the International Space Station's Destiny lab that converts urine and condensate into potable water. Endeavour and station crew members also will transfer equipment and supplies between the station and the shuttle and prepare for Monday's final planned spacewalk.

Endeavour crew members, Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Don Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Greg Chamitoff, and the Expedition 18 crew, Fincke and flight engineers Yury Lonchakov and Sandra Magnus, got their wakeup music at 8:05 a.m. CST.

The music was 'Can't Take My Eyes Off of You,' performed by Frankie Valli. It was for Ferguson. It was his 23rd wedding anniversary.

Endeavour crew members will have as much as four hours of free time beginning a little after 11 a.m. Fincke is scheduled to spend some of that time on the Urine Processer Assembly. The UPA is part of the Water Recovery System, which recycles condensate and urine.

The UPA has experienced several shutdowns during testing. Engineers believe vibration caused physical interference with the UPA's centrifuge, resulting in increased current draw and temperatures and causing the shutdowns. They believe Fincke can fix the problem.

Transfer activities continue to go well, with crew members a little ahead of schedule.

At 3:05 p.m. Ferguson, Boe, Fincke and Magnus will gather in the station's Harmony node to talk with media representatives. They'll take questions from ABC News, CBS News and NBC News.

Today's spacewalk preparations include tool assembly, an hour-long spacewalk procedures review and the beginning of the campout in the Quest airlock for the spacewalkers. Bowen and Kimbrough are scheduled to leave the station's Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. Monday on the mission's fourth spacewalk.

During Monday's spacewalk, Bowen and Kimbrough will install a multi-layer insulation blanket from the station's Kibo module and complete other maintenance tasks. Bowen will install a final trundle bearing assembly on the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) on the right side of the station while Kimbrough lubricates the SARJ on the left side.

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

Nov 23: Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, STS-126 mission specialist, takes a moment for a photo as she makes her selection for a meal at the galley on the middeck of Space Shuttle Endeavour while docked with the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Nov 21: Following a space-to-Earth press conference, members of the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavour crews posed for a group portrait on the orbital outpost. From left, bottom row, are astronaut Sandra Magnus, cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, and astronauts Gregory Chamitoff and Michael Fincke. From left, middle row, are astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Chris Ferguson and Eric Boe. From left, top row, are astronauts Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshin-Piper and Donald Pettit. Credit: NASA

Nov 18: Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (left) and Steve Bowen, both STS-126 mission specialists, participate 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, Piper and Bowen 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