spacetoday.net: Countdown begins for Endeavour launch

Countdown begins for Endeavour launch

Posted: Thu, Jun 11, 2009, 7:31 AM ET (1131 GMT)

The countdown started Wednesday for Saturday morning's launch of the space shuttle Endeavour on a mission to the International Space Station. The countdown started at 9 am EST (1300 GMT) Wednesday for mission STS-127, scheduled for launch at 7:17 am EDT (1117 GMT) Saturday morning. No technical issues are being reported with launch preparations so far, and forecasts call for an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather at launch time. The mission will complete the assembly of the Japanese lab module Kibo by installing a platform outside the module. Five spacewalks are scheduled for the mission to accomplish this and other tasks during the 16-day mission.