2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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science
space
8515642
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# Space shuttle Endeavour prepares for final flight
## The space shuttle Endeavour is poised to take off on its final flight after
wiring problems and bad weather grounded the mission last month.
![Nasa clears Endeavour for its final flight into space][1]
Nasa clears Endeavour for its final flight into space
7:00AM BST 16 May 2011
[Comments][2]
The historic final launch will be watched by Gabrielle Giffords, the US
congresswoman who was shot in the head by a gunman in Arizona in January. Rep
Giffords is the wife of Mark Kelly, one of the Endeavour's crewmembers.
* **Watch the Endeavour launch live on Telegraph.co.uk **
"Gabrielle is excited for tomorrow's launch. Do you plan to see history in the
making?" one of her staff tweeted. Later, they added: "Gabrielle & Mark said
goodbye during visit before launch. Beach House made for picturesque setting."
Nasa officials said conditions - from weather to technical issues - couldn't
look much better for the scheduled 8:56 a.m. (1256 GMT) launch today.
Rep Giffords, travelling on a Nasa jet with the family of pilot Gregory
Johnson, arrived shortly after the protective structure that surrounds
Endeavour was moved out of the way - a milestone in launch preparations that
allows fuelling to begin.
The conditions were far different from last month's futile launch attempt when
the launch was delayed by storms and eventually cancelled because of an
electrical problem.
## Related Articles
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* [Space shuttle history][4]
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* [Endeavour's final flight: profile of Mark Kelly][5]
27 Apr 2011
* [Gabrielle Giffords attends launch][6]
16 May 2011
* [Space shuttle launch delayed][7]
29 Apr 2011
* [US storms: bad weather threatens to delay Endeavour's final flight][8]
29 Apr 2011
Nasa is expecting slightly smaller crowds - 400,000 people instead of 750,000
people - for the second attempt.
The shuttle's main goal on its 16-day mission is to carry a $2 billion
astronomy and physics experiment to the international space station.
It will be the penultimate flight for the 30-year-old space shuttle fleet. And
it is the final flight of the shuttle Endeavour, Nasa's youngest orbiter,
which has flown 116.4 million miles in 24 previous flights.
Beverly Haller of Spring Hill, Florida, and Owosso, Michigan, said she wanted
to see Endeavour's last flight and her first shuttle launch. She worried that
if the shuttle
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