Posted: Sat, Nov 9, 2002, 9:40 AM ET (1440 GMT)
Countdown clocks started Friday morning for the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour on a crew transfer mission to the International Space Station. The countdown started early Friday for the launch of mission STS-113, scheduled for between 12 and 4 am EST (0500 and 0900 GMT) Monday, November 11. The exact shuttle launch time will be announced at 7 pm EST (0000 GMT) Saturday. There were no technical issues reported that could delay the launch, and forecasts called for an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather at launch time. The key purpose of STS-113 is to bring to ISS the Expedition Six crew of Ken Bowersox, Don Pettit, and Nikolai Budarin, and return the Expedition Five crew currently on ISS back to Earth. The shuttle crew will also install a truss segment similar to the one installed on the STS-112 mission last month. The shuttle will carry a new set of valves for a carbon dioxide scrubbing system on the station that has recently experienced problems. If the shuttle launches on schedule, it will land at the Kennedy Space Center on November 21.
