Endeavour's Final Mission

NASA's space shuttle Endeavour completed its final mission this morning, touching down safely in Florida. Endeavour spent a total of 299 days in space, traveling more than 122.8 million miles during its 25 flights. Its first launch took place on May 7, 1992 -- its final launch on May 16, 2011. "We want to thank all the tens of thousands of employees who have put their hands on this incredible ship," shuttle commander Mark Kelly said moments before liftoff. Endeavour and its six-member crew delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, the Express Logistics Carrier-3, and additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper to the International Space Station. Collected here are images from Endeavour's final trip as NASA prepares for to launch its final shuttle, scheduled for July 8th.



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The docked space shuttle Endeavour, backdropped by a nighttime view of
Earth and a starry sky are featured in this image photographed by an
Expedition 28 crew member on the International Space Station, on May 28,
2011. (NASA)











































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Attired in a training version of his shuttle launch and entry
suit, NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel, STS-134 mission specialist, is
pictured during a water survival training session in the Neutral
Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near NASA's Johnson Space Center on February
23, 2011. (NASA/Robert Markowitz) #



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Bathed in xenon lights, space shuttle Endeavour, attached to its
external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, on a nighttime journey
from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida. The 3.4-mile trek, known as "rollout," began at
7:56 p.m. EST, March 10, 2011, and took about seven hours to complete. (NASA/Jim Grossmann) #



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A January, 2011 portrait of STS-134 Astronaut Mark E. Kelly,
commander. Kelly is a U.S. Navy captain, and husband to U.S.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the target of an attempted
assassination in Tucson, Arizona, on January 8, 2011. (NASA) #



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On May 15, 2011, At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the
rotating service structure (RSS) moves away from space shuttle Endeavour
on Launch Pad 39A. The structure provides weather protection and access
to the shuttle while it awaits lift off on the pad. (NASA/Jack Pfaller) #



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Jacob Lewis, 8, left, sister Hope, 3, second from left, brother
Caleb, 1, and their mother, Joy Lewis, right, and grandfather, Ed
Blankenship, second from right, all of Stafford, Virginia, walk past the
Rocket Garden while leaving a launch viewing area, after the space
shuttle Endeavour launch was scrubbed, at the Kennedy Space Center
Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday, April 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) #



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The space shuttle Endeavour, on launch pad 39a as a storm passes
by prior to the rollback of the Rotating Service Structure (RSS), on
Thursday, April 28, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral,
Florida. (NASA/Bill Ingalls) #



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Photographers capture sunrise behind space shuttle Endeavour a
couple of hours before the scheduled launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida,
on Monday, May 16, 2011. (AP Photo/J. David Ake) #



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Space shuttle Endeavour's main engines ignite for liftoff at
Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Endeavour
began its final flight, the STS-134 mission to the International Space
Station, at 8:56 a.m. EDT on May 16. (NASA/Tony Gray and Tom Farrar) #



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Kicking up a trail of smoke and steam, space shuttle Endeavour
lifts off from its seaside launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida at 8:56 a.m. EDT on May 16, 2011. (NASA/Jim Grossmann) #



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The space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 16, 2011. (Reuters/Hans Deryk) #



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Spectators react as the space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center, on May 16, 2011. (Reuters/Scott Audette) #



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Viewed through steam and debris kicked up by its rocket engines, the
space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, on Monday,
May 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) #



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Rising on twin columns of fire and kicking up a trail of smoke and
steam, space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from its seaside launch pad at
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA/Jim Grossmann) #



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NASA officials view space shuttle Endeavour as it launches skyward
through the windows of Firing Room 4, on Monday, May 16, 2011. (NASA/Bill Ingalls) #



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The Space Shuttle Endeavour flies into the clouds as it lifts off on its final mission, on May 16, 2011. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) #



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Photographed from a shuttle training aircraft, space shuttle
Endeavour punches through low clouds, heading toward Earth orbit on May
16, 2011. (NASA) #



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Space shuttle Endeavour and its six-member crew head toward a
rendezvous with the International Space Station on May 16, 2011. (NASA) #



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The STS-134 external fuel tank, during its release from space
shuttle Endeavour in space following the successful launch on May 16,
2011. (NASA) #



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One of the STS-134 crew members aboard the space shuttle Endeavour
recorded this image of the International Space Station (ISS),
backdropped against the blackness of space, as the two spacecraft made
their relative approach on May 18, 2011. (NASA) #



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One of the Expedition 27 crew members aboard the International
Space Station (ISS) recorded this image of the distant space shuttle
Endeavour, as the two spacecraft made their relative approach on May 18,
2011. (NASA) #



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The International Space Station, photographed by an STS-134 crew member on the space shuttle Endeavour, May 28, 2011. (NASA) #



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This high angle, partial view of the port side of the space shuttle
Endeavour's crew cabin was provided by an Expedition 27 crew member
during a survey of the approaching STS-134 vehicle prior to docking with
the International Space Station on May 18, 2011. (NASA) #



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NASA astronauts Mark Kelly (left), STS-134 commander; and Andrew
Feustel, mission specialist, are pictured on the aft flight deck of
space shuttle Endeavour during rendezvous and docking operations with
the International Space Station on flight day three. (NASA) #



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In the grasp of the International Space Station's Canadarm2, the
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) is transferred from space shuttle
Endeavour's payload bay for installation on the station's starboard
truss on May 19, 2011. (NASA) #



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After more than five months of serving as a flight engineer on
back-to-back International Space Station Expedition crews, NASA
astronaut Cady Coleman was only 48 hours away from returning to Earth in
this photo. She and two Expedition 27 crewmates lessened the population
of twelve on the joint Endeavour/ISS complex to nine when they undocked
on May 23 in a Soyuz spacecraft and returned safely to Earth. (NASA) #



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A portion of the International Space Station is visible in this
view of a starry sky and Earth's horizon, photographed by an STS-134
crew member while space shuttle Endeavour remains docked with the
station on May 27, 2011. (NASA) #



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NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel (right) and Greg Chamitoff, both
STS-134 mission specialists, participate in the mission's first session
of extravehicular activity (EVA) on May 20, 2011, as construction and
maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the
six-hour, 19-minute spacewalk, Feustel and Chamitoff retrieved
long-duration materials exposure experiments and installed another,
installed a light on one of the station's rail line handcarts, made
preparations for adding ammonia to a cooling loop and installed an
antenna for the External Wireless Communication system. The
newly-installed Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) is at center frame. (NASA) #



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Part of space shuttle Endeavour, with the Earth, Moon and space in
the background, photographed by an Expedition 27 crew member aboard the
International Space Station on May 19, 2011. (NASA) #



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Ted Robles with his fifth grader daughter Marina inside, gets some
video as Mesa Verde Elementary School students talk with Shuttle
Endeavour astronauts, including mission commander Mark Kelly from
Tucson, Arizona, on Sunday May 22, 2011. Elementary school classmates of
the youngest victim of the January shootings in Tucson chatted Sunday
with space shuttle Endeavour astronauts. (AP Photo/Kelly Presnell/ARIZONA DAILY STAR) #



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NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel (top left) and Greg Chamitoff
(center left), both STS-134 mission specialists, participate in the
mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction
and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. (NASA) #



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A mirror shot in orbit -- NASA astronaut Michael Fincke, STS-134
mission specialist, uses a digital camera to capture his own image,
reflected in part of the International Space Station, during a spacewalk
on May 25, 2011. (NASA) #



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A fish-eye lens attached to an electronic still camera was used to
capture this image of NASA astronaut Michael Fincke (top center) during
the mission's fourth session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as
construction and maintenance continue on the International Space
Station. (NASA) #



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The International Space Station is featured in this image
photographed by an STS-134 crew member on the space shuttle Endeavour
after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative
separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 11:55 p.m. (EDT)
on May 29, 2011. (NASA) #



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Vapor trails follow space shuttle Endeavour as it approaches Runway
15 on the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida for the final time, on June 1, 2011. Main gear touchdown was at
2:34:51 a.m. EDT, followed by nose gear touchdown at 2:35:04 a.m., and
wheelstop at 2:35:36 a.m. (NASA/Kevin O'Connell) #



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The space shuttle Endeavour lands on runway 33 after completing her
final flight at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on
Wednesday, June 1, 2011. (AP Photo/John Raoux) #



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The STS-134 astronauts from left, European Space Agency's Roberto
Vittori, Gregory H. Johnson, pilot; Mark Kelly, commander; and Michael
Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, and Andrew Feustel, all mission specialists,
pose for a group photograph shortly after landing on board the space
shuttle Endeavour at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space
Center, on Wednesday, June 1, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP Photo/NASA, Bill Ingalls) #



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Its final space mission complete, space shuttle Endeavour is towed
to the Orbiter Processing Facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on
Wednesday, June 1, 2011. Endeavour now begins a long decommissioning
process, preparing to be delivered as a display for the California
Science Center in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Raoux) #