|
|
 Space shuttle Endeavour blasts into space at 4:14 a.m. EST on Monday.
Shuttle launches before dawn
 Feb. 8, 2010 - Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted into space before dawn today from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's on its way to the International Space Station.
THE launch was delayed one day when cloudy weather prevented a Sunday pre-dawn attempt. Commander George Zamka will lead the mission (STS-130) to the
International Space Station.
Endeavour's 13-day mission will deliver and assemble the last U.S module onto the International Space Station, giving the laboratory a room with quite a view. The mission kicks off the final year of shuttle flights, with five missions planned through September.
Node 3, known as Tranquility, will provide additional room for crew members and many of the space station's life support and environmental control systems. Attached to the node is a cupola, which is a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that will provide a  panoramic view of Earth, celestial objects and visiting spacecraft. Tucked away inside Tranquility and Endeavour's middeck is a ton of equipment, supplies and experiments for the space station.
While docked to the station, Endeavour's crew will conduct three spacewalks and extensive robotic operations to install Tranquility and then relocate its Cupola. After the node and cupola are added, the space station will be about 90 percent complete.
Zamka, 47, a U.S. Marine Corps colonel, served as pilot on STS-120 in 2007. He is joined on the STS-130 mission by pilot Terry Virts, 41, a U.S. Air Force colonel, who will be making his first trip to space. Mission specialists are Kathryn Hire, a U.S. Navy Reserve captain who flew on STS-90 in 1998; Stephen Robinson who flew on STS-85 in 1997, STS-95 in 1988 and STS-114 in 2005; Nicholas Patrick who flew on STS-116 in 2006; and Robert Behnken, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, who flew on STS-123 in 2008. Robinson, Patrick and Behnken all have doctorates in mechanical engineering.
| STS-130 mission patch
|
Each shuttle trip has a patch unique to the crew and mission. The STS-130 patch was designed by the crew to reflect both the objectives of the mission and its place in the history of human spaceflight. The shape of the patch represents the cupola. The image of Earth is the first photograph of the Earth taken from the moon by Lunar Orbiter I on Aug. 23, 1966. As both a past and a future destination for explorers from the planet Earth, the moon is thus represented symbolically in the patch. The space shuttle Endeavour is pictured approaching the space station, symbolizing the shuttle's role as the prime construction vehicle for the complex.
"What a beautiful launch we had this morning... the orbiter performed extremely well," Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, said during the STS-130 postlaunch news conference. "This is a great start to a very complicated mission."
1. Related Britannica content (Middle School): shuttle2. Related Britannica content (Elementary): shuttle3. What time was dawn this morning at Kennedy Space Center? What time was dawn in your city? What is another name for dawn? Why does the time of dawn change each day? Discuss. 4. Look at the numbers in the lower right corner of the photo in the story. It is a digital clock of the launch. How do you know it is 14 seconds after launch? Write the numbers for 3 hours, 21 minutes and 2 seconds after launch.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
Springville-Griffith Institute
Middle School, Springville, NY |
|
| |
 |
Balloon rises, students soar
Jan. 6, 2010 - Eighth grade students at Springville-Griffith Institute Middle School, S-GI, in Springville, New York were aware that MIT students launched a balloon in September that reached the stratosphere. |
 |
 |
Creekwood Middle School, Houston, Texas |
|
 |
School sparks WWI Memorial restoration effort
March 9, 2009 - On Nov. 11, 1918, the U.S. had 4,734,991 surviving World War I veterans. Today there is 1 - Mr. Frank Buckles. |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
