After rollback of the Rotating Service Structure (at left), Space Shuttle Endeavour stands ready for launch targeted for 10:06 p.m. EST tonight on mission STS-97 to the International Space Station. The orbiter carries the P6 Integrated Truss Segment containing solar arrays that will be temporarily installed to the Unity connecting module by the Z1 truss, recently delivered to and installed on the Station on mission STS-92. The two solar arrays are each more than 100 feet long. They will capture energy from the sun and convert it to power for the Station. Two spacewalks will be required to install the solar array connections KSC-00pp1776
Summary
After rollback of the Rotating Service Structure (at left), Space Shuttle Endeavour stands ready for launch targeted for 10:06 p.m. EST tonight on mission STS-97 to the International Space Station. The orbiter carries the P6 Integrated Truss Segment containing solar arrays that will be temporarily installed to the Unity connecting module by the Z1 truss, recently delivered to and installed on the Station on mission STS-92. The two solar arrays are each more than 100 feet long. They will capture energy from the sun and convert it to power for the Station. Two spacewalks will be required to install the solar array connections
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
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