Half A Million Spectators Expected For Shuttle Launch
CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) - NASA is estimating that more than half a million spectators will be on hand for the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour on Monday.
On Saturday, launch managers gave the go ahead for Monday's 8:56 a.m. lift off.
Forecasters are putting the odds of acceptable weather for Endeavour's final blast off at 70 percent.
Endeavour will fly to the International Space Station under the command of astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of recuperating U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head last January in an assassination attempt. Giffords' arrival Sunday afternoon included a quick fly-by of Endeavour on the launch pad, ready to go.
"Gabrielle is excited for tomorrow's launch. Do you plan to see history in the making?" her staff tweeted.
Giffords, traveling on a NASA jet with the family of pilot Gregory Johnson, arrived shortly after the protective structure that surrounds Endeavour was moved out of the way -- a milestone in launch preparations that allows fueling to begin late Sunday night.
NASA was so ready to get the flight off the ground that they moved the protective scaffolding 15 minutes earlier than planned.
View Slideshow: NASA Space Shuttles Remembered
Late last month, an electrical problem in Endeavour's engine compartment halted the initial countdown. A switch box and faulty thermostat were replaced.
Six veteran spacemen are assigned to the 16-day flight. Endeavour's launch has a $2 billion international science project, one of the most expensive payloads in NASA's 30-year shuttle history. During their mission, Endeavour's crews will place the 15,000-pound particle physics detector on the International Space Station. The experiment, which will look for elusive antimatter and the origins of mysterious dark matter, could change man's understanding of the cosmos.
Only one other shuttle mission remains. Atlantis will soar one last time in July.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
