Space shuttle Endeavour has completed the deorbit burn, setting it on a course to return to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Entry interface, the point at which the shuttle begins entering the Earth’s atmosphere, will occur at 2:03 a.m. EDT. Peak heating begins at 2:12 a.m., the first roll reversal to slow the spacecraft will take place at 2:16 a.m., and peak heating should end about 2:22 a.m.
Endeavour will head to the northeast across the west coast of Florida near Fort Meyers Beach, triggering dual sonic booms minutes later when it slows to subsonic speeds at about 2:31 a.m. Commander Mark Kelly will align Endeavour with Kennedy’s northwest to southeast runway 15 and touch down at 2:35:23 a.m.
The STS-134 ground track for the orbit 248 landing is posted here http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts134/news/landing.html.
Space shuttle Atlantis now is about half way complete with its move from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A.
Currently, the crawler-transporter (CT) with Atlantis and its mobile launcher platform on top is temporarily stopped to allow technicians to preemptively grease some bearings in the CT that were starting to heat up. The rollout will resume shortly.
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