NASA Clears Space Shuttle Endeavour For Launch

Cape Canaveral (dbTechno) - NASA managers have cleared the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour for launch on March 11. The Endeavour mission will have astronauts bringing up the first of three parts to a Japanese research laboratory being added onto the International Space Station.

There are three flights planned to bring the entire Japanese research complex up to the International Space Station, and it will all begin on March 11.

NASA has the launch planned to take place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:28 a.m. EST on the 11th.

This launch will come just a few weeks after the NASA space shuttle Atlantis returned from a mission to deliver and install the European space laboratory Columbus to the International Space Station.

Endeavour will spend two weeks at the ISS to install a storage room, which is a part of the Japanese laboratory complex.

They will also refurbish the Canadian-built robot arm, adding a mechanical hand to it.

The Japanese laboratory complex is called Kibo, which means “hope.”

It is expected to launch in late May 2008. The final segment will be put in place in 2009, and will be an outdoor area where they will be able to conduct experiments in space.

The Endeavour crew is made up of seven astronauts, including Japan’s Takao Doi.