Endeavour Ready for Tuesday Morning Launch

The current weather forecast calls for only a 10 percent chance atmospheric conditions will delay the launch of Endeavour.

The rotating service structure is rolled back from around space shuttle Endeavour Monday morning. The enclosed gantry gives workers access to the shuttle and its payload bay leading up to launch. Photo courtesy: NASA

(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) - The rotating service structure has been rolled away from space shuttle Endeavour in a major milestone leading up to launch. The liftoff of Endeavour on the STS-123 mission remains on schedule for 2:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

The movement of the enclosed gantry clears the way for the loading of about 500,000 gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants into the orange external tank this evening.

The rotating service structure provides weather protection to the shuttles at the launch pad and gives technicians access to the shuttle.

The current weather forecast calls for only a 10 percent chance atmospheric conditions will delay the launch, with the primary concern coming from a slight chance of a low cloud ceiling around Kennedy.

The flight is commanded by Dominic Gorie with Gregory H. Johnson serving as Pilot. The crew also includes Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Robert L. Behnken, Mike Foreman, Garrett Reisman and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi.

The crew will deliver the first section of the Japanese-built Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system called Dextre.

STS-123 is an international mission combining the expertise and experience of several countries working together to create a working 'home' in space.

Reports From Iraq

Salem-News.com Top Stories
Winter Storm and High Wind Warnings Blow into NorthWest

---

Police Say Driving Rampage Ends in Fatal Shots

---

Afghanistan, the Unlearned Lesson

---

Greenscam: Scientific Mass Manipulation in Action

---

Living the Lie: Agent Orange Activist Confronts Monsanto

---

Name:

Enter the text from the image to confirm you are human.(Cookies are required)

HTML tags and certain characters are removed - (numbers, letters only or post may be cut short.) certain words are banned to stop spammers. All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.