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

5 p.m. CST Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

STS-126 Mission Control Center Status Report #25

The International Space Station's moving van, Leonardo, is back in Endeavour's payload bay, ready to return materials to Earth.

Between Leonardo and the shuttle's middeck, 16,390 pounds of equipment were delivered to the station, much of it for future expansion of the station's crew. The crew members packed away 3,642 pounds of materials to be returned to Earth.

Mission Specialists Don Pettit and Shane Kimbrough used the station's Canadarm2 to move the pressurized cargo module. It was removed from the Harmony module and placed in the shuttle's cargo bay at 4:52 p.m.

Lead spacewalker Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper packed up equipment and supplies used for the four spacewalks and moved them to Endeavour for return.

Nov 26: The end effector of Endeavour's Canadian-built robot arm appears amidst elements of the International Space Station. Endeavour and the orbital outpost have been docked for almost two weeks while their crews have joined efforts in home improvement on the station and other work Credit: NASA

Station Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus continued work on the station's new regenerative life support system. She drained a condensate collection tank to create the optimum ratio of condensate and distillate from the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) and gathered additional water samples for testing. The UPA ran yesterday, completing three cycles after troubleshooting steps restored its operation. There are no plans to run it again during the joint mission as all the samples needed have been taken.

Station Commander Mike Fincke and cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov practiced with the backup manual docking system as part of routine preparations for the arrival of the automated ISS Progress 31 cargo spacecraft. The vehicle launched to the station earlier today and is set to dock on Sunday. One of several antennas associated with the Kurs automated rendezvous system was eventually extended and secured in place. It had not deployed automatically as expected.

All ten crew members will have light duty in the morning on Thanksgiving Day. They have plans to join together for a meal of smoked turkey, candied yams, green beans and mushrooms, cornbread dressing, cranapple dessert and tea with sugar.

The shuttle and station crews will part ways and close hatches in the afternoon for undocking Friday.

Endeavour's crew is scheduled to go to bed at 9:55 p.m. and be awakened at 5:55 a.m. Thursday. The next shuttle status report will be issued after the crew awakens, or earlier if events warrant.

Nov 26: Astronaut Eric Boe, STS-126 pilot, floats near the hatchway of the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, temporarily docked with the International Space Station to aid in the transfer of supplies and hardware. Leonardo, like Boe and the rest of the Endeavour crew, will return to Earth over the coming weekend. Credit: NASA

STS-126 Mission Coverage

- courtesy of NASA