Endeavour Moves Into Position For Possible Rescue Mission

On Sunday, the Atlantis astronauts are set to fly from their home base at Johnson Space Center in Houston to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they will participate in the STS-125 Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test next week. The training activities and countdown rehearsal will run from September 22 through 24.

The seven astronauts and ground crews will participate in various simulated countdown activities, including equipment familiarization and emergency training for the fifth and final shuttle flight to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

The Hubble payload moves to the pad this weekend and will be put into Atlantis' cargo bay on Tuesday.

In the early morning hours Friday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour successfully completed its slow 4.2-mile trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B... marking the first time since July 2001 that two shuttles are on the launch pads at the same time at KSC.

The journey took less than 8 hours, and the shuttle was securely fastened to the pad just before sunrise.

Just a short distance away on pad 39A, technicians continue to prepare space shuttle Atlantis for its targeted October 10 at 12:43 am EDT launch on mission STS-125 to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour will be on standby in event that a rescue mission for the Atlantis's crew would be necessary.

After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, workers will move it to pad 39A in preparation for liftoff on mission STS-126 to the International Space Station in November.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/shuttle