Endeavour (Space shuttle)

<p>Endeavour | OV-105; Mission - Launch Date - Mission Information</p>
<p>STS-49 - 05.07.92 - STS-49 Site</p>
<p>STS-47 - 09.12.92 - STS-47 Site</p>
<p>STS-54 - 01.13.93 - STS-54 Site</p>
<p>STS-57 - 06.21.93 - STS-57 Site</p>
<p>STS-61 - 12.02.93 - STS-61 Site</p>
<p>STS-59 - 04.09.94 - STS-59 Site</p>
<p>STS-68 - 09.30.94 - STS-68 Site</p>
<p>STS-67 - 03.02.95 - STS-67 Site</p>
<p>STS-69 - 09.07.95 - STS-69 Site</p>
<p>STS-72 - 01.11.96 - STS-72 Site</p>
<p>STS-77 - 05.19.96 - STS-77 Site</p>
<p>STS-89 - 01.22.98 - STS-89 Site</p>
<p>STS-88 - 12.04.98 - STS-88 Site</p>
<p>STS-99 - 02.11.00 - STS-99 Site</p>
<p>STS-97 - 11.30.00 - STS-97 Site</p>
<p>STS-100 - 04.19.01 - STS-100 Site</p>
<p>STS-108 - 12.05.01 - STS-108 Site</p>
<p>STS-111 - 06.05.02 - STS-111 Site</p>
<p>STS-113 - 11.23.02 - STS-113 Site</p>
<p>STS-118 - 08.08.07 - STS-118 Site</p>
<p>STS-123 - 03.11.08 - STS-123 Site</p>
<p>STS-126 - 11.14.08 - STS-126 Site</p>
<p>STS-127 - 07.15.09 - STS-127 Site</p>
<p>STS-130 - 02.08.10 - STS-130 Site</p>
<p>STS-134 - 05.16.11 - STS-134 Site</p>

Authorized by Congress in August 1987 as a replacement for the Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger, Endeavour (OV-105) arrived at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility on May 7, 1991; For the first time, an orbiter was named through a national competition involving students in elementary and secondary schools. They were asked to select a name based upon an exploratory or research sea vessel. In May 1989, President George Bush announced the winning name. Endeavour was named after a ship chartered to traverse the South Pacific in 1768 and captained by 18th century British explorer James Cook; Its first launch, the STS-49 mission, began with a flawless liftoff on May 7, 1992, beginning a journey filled with excitement, anticipation and many firsts; One of Endeavour's primary assignments was to capture INTELSAT VI, an orbiting, but not functioning, communications satellite, and replace its rocket motor. Unfortunately, the Space Shuttle wasn't designed to retrieve the satellite, which created many repair challenges; Between rescue attempts, the STS-49 crew was busy with a variety of activities. They conducted medical tests assessing the human body's performance in microgravity, and recorded footage for an educational video comparing Cook's first voyage on Endeavour with the Space Shuttle orbiter's maiden voyage; The crew also took part in the Commercial Protein Crystal Growth experiment. The research tested the production of protein crystals grown in microgravity; OV-105 became the first Space Shuttle orbiter to use a drag chute during a landing -- only one of many technical improvements made to Endeavour; Space Shuttle Endeavour's OMDP began in December 2003. Engineers and technicians spent 900,000 hours performing 124 modifications to the vehicle. These included recommended return to flight safety modifications, bonding more than 1,000 thermal protection system tiles and inspecting more than 150 miles of wiring. Eighty five of the modifications are complete and 39 are still underway; Endeavour's flight on mission STS-118 was the first launch for the orbiter in more than four years

<p>May 7, 1992; STS-49; Brandenstein, Chilton, Thuot, Thornton, Hieb, Akers, Melnick</p>
<p>September 12, 1992; STS-47; Gibson, Brown, Lee, Davis, Apt, Jemison, Mohri</p>
<p>January 13, 1993; STS-54; Casper, McMonagle, Runco, Harbaugh, Helms</p>
<p>June 21, 1993; STS-57; Grabe, Duffy, Low, Sherlock, Wisoff, J. E. Voss</p>
<p>December 2, 1993; STS-61; Covey, Bowersox, Musgrave, Thornton, Nicollier, Hoffman, Akers</p>
<p>April 9, 1994; STS-59; Gutierrez, Chilton, Godwin, Apt, Clifford, Jones</p>
<p>September 30, 1994; STS-68; M. Baker, Wilcutt, Jones, S. Smith, Bursch, Wisoff</p>
<p>March 2, 1995; STS-67; Oswald, W. Gregory, Jernigan, Grunsfeld, Lawrence, Parise, Durrance</p>
<p>September 7, 1995; STS-69; D. Walker, Cockrell, J. S. Voss, Newman, Gernhardt</p>
<p>January 11, 1996; STS-72; Duffy, Jett, Chiao, Barry, Scott, Wakata</p>
<p>May 19, 1996; STS-77; Casper, Brown, Bursch, Runco, Garneau, A. Thomas</p>
<p>January 22, 1998; STS-89; Wilcutt, Edwards, Dunbar, M. Anderson, Reilly, Sharipov, A. Thomas, Wolf</p>
<p>December 4, 1998; STS-88; Cabana, Sturckow, Currie, Ross, Newman, Krikalev</p>
<p>February 11, 2000; STS-99; Kregel, Gorie, Kavandi, J. E. Voss, Mohri, Thiele</p>
<p>November 30, 2000; STS-97; Jett, Bloomfield, Tanner, Noriega, Garneau</p>
<p>April 19, 2001; STS-100; Rominger, Ashby, Hadfield, Parazynski, Phillips, Guidoni, Lonchakov</p>
<p>December 5, 2001; STS-108; Gorie, M. Kelly, Godwin, Tani Onufrienko, Walz, Bursch, Culbertson, Tyurin, Dezhurov</p>
<p>June 5, 2002; STS-111; Cockrell, Lockhart, Chang-Diaz, Perrin, Korzun, Whitson, Treshchev, Onufrienko, Walz, Bursch</p>
<p>November 23, 2002; STS-113; Wetherbee, Lockhart, Lopez-Alegri, Herrington, Bowersox, Budarin, Pettit, Korzun, Whitson, Treshchev</p>
<p>August 8, 2007; STS-118; S. Kelly, Hobaugh, Caldwell, Mastracchio, D. Williams, Morgan, Drew</p>
<p>March 11, 2008; STS-123; Gorie, G. H. Johnson, Behnken, Foreman, Linnehan, Doi, Reisman, Eyharts</p>
<p>November 14, 2008; STS-126; Ferguson, Boe, Pettit, Bowen, Stefanyshyn-Piper, Kimbrough, Magnus, Chamitoff</p>
<p>July 15, 2009; STS-127; Polansky, Hurley, Cassidy, Payette, Marshburn, Wolf, Kopra, Wakata</p>
<p>February 8, 2010; STS-130; Zamka, Virts, Hire, Robinson, Patrick Behnken</p>
<p>May 16, 2011; STS-134; M. Kelly, G. H. Johnson, Fincke, Vittori, Feustel, Chamitoff </p>

Space Shuttle Endeavour (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-105); It embarked on its first mission, STS-49, in May 1992 and its 25th and final mission, STS-134, in May 2011; The United States Congress approved the construction of Endeavour in 1987 to replace Challenger, which was destroyed in 1986; orbiter is named after the British HMS Endeavour, the ship which took Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery (1768–1771). This is why the name is spelled in the British English manner, rather than the American English ("Endeavor"); Endeavour was named through a national competition involving students in elementary and secondary schools. Entries included an essay about the name, the story behind it and why it was appropriate for a NASA shuttle, and the project that supported the name. Endeavour was the most popular entry, accounting for almost one-third of the state-level winners. The national winners were Senatobia Middle School in Senatobia, Mississippi, in the elementary division and Tallulah Falls School in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, in the upper school division. They were honored at several ceremonies in Washington, D.C., including a White House ceremony where then-President George H. W. Bush presented awards to each school; On its first mission, it captured and redeployed the stranded INTELSAT VI communications satellite. The first African-American woman astronaut, Mae Jemison, was launched into space on the mission STS-47 on September 12, 1992; Endeavour is currently housed in the Samuel Oschin Pavilion at the California Science Center in Exposition Park in South Los Angeles about two miles south of Downtown Los Angeles;