Mr. B in Zero-g

Woke up early this morning to watch the last scheduled night liftoff of the Space Shuttle and I wasn’t disappointed. Although there were some concerns about weather and the initial launch was scrubbed last night due to some pesky clouds, this morning’s launch went flawlessly. Three days from now Endeavour will rendezvous with the International Space Station to begin the meat of the mission (STS-130).

Photo Credit: NASA TV and NASA.gov

What an awesome sight! (Video Replay here) If you are like me and have yet to see a launch in person, time to get planning. There are only a four remaining launches. Even if you can’t get VIP access a trip to Florida’s east coast will provide a great view. With many astronauts aboard the ISS and Endeavour tweeting we will have unprecedented updates of the mission. In fact, you are encouraged to tweet your questions to the astronauts even while they are working hard some 250 statute miles above Earth orbiting at 17,500 mph! Tweet @NASA_Astronauts, @Astro_Nicholas, @Astro_Jeff and/or @Astro_Soichi.

Endeavour’s STS-130 Mission
Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour. Terry Virts will serve as the pilot. Mission Specialists are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space.

Shuttle Endeavour and its crew will deliver to the space station a third connecting module, the Italian-built Tranquility node and the seven-windowed cupola, which will be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.