spacetoday.net: Endeavour rolled out to pad

Endeavour rolled out to pad

Posted: Fri, Sep 19, 2008, 4:56 PM ET (2056 GMT)
STS-126: Rollout (NASA/KSC)

The space shuttle Endeavour was rolled out to the pad early Friday, marking perhaps the final time that two shuttles are on the pad simultaneously. Endeavour arrived at pad 39B at 6:59 am EDT (1059 GMT), a little over seven hours after it left the Vehicle Assembly Building. Another shuttle, Atlantis, was rolled out to neighboring pad 39A two weeks ago for the STS-125 mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour will be able to fly a rescue mission to Atlantis if needed; otherwise, it will fly the STS-126 ISS assembly mission in November. This is the first time since 2001 that two shuttles have been on the two launch pads simultaneously, and is expected to be the final time before the fleet is retired in 2010.