STS-123 Scheduled For March 11 Liftoff

NASA tells ANN the space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL on Monday, February 18, as preparations move forward for the STS-123 mission. Endeavour is targeted to lift off March 11 on a 16-day mission to the International Space Station.

The first motion of the shuttle out of Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building is scheduled for 0700 EST. The fully assembled space shuttle, consisting of the orbiter, external tank and twin solid rocket boosters, will be mounted on a mobile launcher platform and delivered to the pad on top of a crawler transporter.

The crawler will travel slower than one mph during the 3.4-mile journey. The process is expected to take approximately six hours.

The mission will deliver the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, Dextre. Five spacewalks will be conducted during the flight.

Dominic Gorie will command the mission. Gregory H. Johnson will be the pilot. Robert L. Behnken, Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan, Garrett Reisman and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi make up the rest of the crew. Reisman will remain on the station as a resident crew member, replacing station Flight Engineer Leopold Eyharts of the European Space Agency, who will return home on Endeavour.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts123/index.html