The Inauguration Committee for President-elect Barack Obama officially extended an invitation on Wednesday for NASA to be part of the 56th Inaugural Parade on January 20. The crew of NASA's recent STS-126 space shuttle mission and other agency officials will join representatives from across the country and our armed forces in this historic parade down Pennsylvania Avenue [...]

Technicians from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are continuing preparation work on space shuttle Endeavour at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California so the shuttle can begin its cross-country flight Monday. An issue with preparations to install the flight tail cone on Endeavour has delayed plans to start the shuttle's flight Sunday morning. [...]

After landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Nov. 30, space shuttle Endeavour is about to make its cross-country journey back to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Mounted on a modified Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, Endeavour is expected to begin its journey to Florida as early as Sunday.

Endeavour's main landing gear touched down at 3:25:06 p.m., followed by the nose gear at 3:25:21 p.m. CST. The shuttle's wheels stopped at 3:26:03 p.m., bringing the mission's elapsed time to 15 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes, 34 seconds. Endeavour traveled 6,615,109 miles during its journey.

Space shuttle Endeavour has lined up with the runway and will drop its landing gear moments before landing. Endeavour's main gear and nose wheels are down and locked for landing. Endeavour is back on Earth! After 250 orbits of Earth, STS-126 has concluded safely with space shuttle Endeavour executing a perfect entry and landing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. 'That was a great way to end a fantastic flight,' Capcom Alan Poindexter radioed the crew from Mission Control. The astronauts aboard the shuttle have about an hour of duties in front of them to 'safe' the vehicle so technicians can get it ready to move into its protective orbiter processing facility.

Endeavour's astronauts are beginning what is scheduled to be their flight's landing day. There are two Sunday opportunities to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The first, on orbit 250, would see a deorbit burn at 2:20 p.m. and a landing at 3:25 p.m. For the second, on orbit 251, the deorbit burn would be at 3:57 p.m. and the landing at 5 p.m.

As Endeavour's crew prepares for landing, mission managers are closely monitoring a cold front that could affect Sunday's entry and landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Forecasters are predicting the front could bring rain, possible thunderstorms and crosswinds that would violate the shuttle's flight rules into the Florida spaceport area. The two landing opportunities are at 12:19 p.m. and 1:54 p.m. CST. Should mission managers wave off landing in Florida, there are two opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 3:25 p.m. and 5 p.m. The California forecast is favorable.

Endeavour's astronauts are beginning a day of preparations to return home. Ferguson and Boe, with help from Bowen, will check out the flight control surfaces, including the rudder and the wing flaps at 9:40 a.m. Those surfaces will guide Endeavour's unpowered flight through the atmosphere to a landing. Immediately afterwards, at 10:55 a.m., the astronauts will test fire reaction control system thrusters. The thrusters will control the shuttle's orientation as it descends and begins its re-entry through the atmosphere.

The space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station parted ways at 8:47 a.m. CST. The shuttle crew then turned its attention to inspecting Endeavour's heat shield to prepare for landing Sunday.Endeavour Pilot Eric Boe, with help from Commander Chris Ferguson and other crew members, flew the orbiter away from the space station. The final separation maneuver was delayed to avoid the shuttle crossing paths with space debris. That burn was completed at 5:23 p.m.

The space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-astronaut crew are scheduled to leave the International Space Station at 8:47 a.m. CST. Latches will be released and springs will push the shuttle about two feet ahead of the station. Boe will pilot Endeavour to a point about 450 feet ahead of the station, then, at about 9:15 a.m., begin a flyaround. He will keep the cargo bay facing the orbiting laboratory so cameras there can document its condition. The shuttle will leave the area at about 11:15 a.m.

After Thanksgiving dinner with their hosts on the International Space Station, the seven members of the space shuttle Endeavour crew will board their spacecraft, close its hatches and make final preparations for Friday's undocking. The Multipurpose Logistics Module Leonardo has been loaded with items for return to Earth and is in the shuttle cargo bay. After the last few items are transferred from the station to Endeavour's middeck, Ferguson and Pettit will check out rendezvous tools. A little before 5 p.m., the station and shuttle crew members will say farewell to one another and close hatches between the two vehicles.

Mission Specialists Don Pettit and Shane Kimbrough used the station's Canadarm2 to move the pressurized cargo module. It was removed from the Harmony module and placed in the shuttle's cargo bay at 4:52 p.m. The shuttle and station crews will part ways and close hatches in the afternoon for undocking Friday.

Crew members will leave Leonardo for the last time a little after 10 a.m. CST. Mission specialists Don Pettit and Shane Kimbrough will use the station's Canadarm2 to take the pressurized cargo module from the Harmony node to Endeavour's cargo bay. It is scheduled to be berthed there about 5:50 p.m. The ISS Progress 31 cargo ship launched at 6:38 a.m. today (6:38 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The mission extension day has paid off for the on-orbit crews as well as the ground teams today. Not only is the crew ahead of schedule with transfer activity, but their hard work on a tricky water recycling unit and the massive solar array joint are showing signs of improvement.

Crew members aboard Endeavour and the International Space Station got good news on two fronts when they were awakened for a day to be devoted largely to transfer of materials from the station to be returned to Earth. The starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, which rotates in a paddle-wheel fashion the 240-foot solar wings on the station's right side, was automatically tracking the Sun for the first time in more than a year.

NASA managers decided to extend Endeavour's stay by one day with landing now scheduled for 12:18 p.m. CST Sunday. Astronauts Steve Bowen and Shane Kimbrough wrapped up the final spacewalk of the mission. The spacewalk began at 12:24 p.m. CST and lasted six hours, seven minutes, ending at 6:31 p.m. CST.

Spacewalkers Bowen and Kimbrough are scheduled to leave the station's Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. Bowen will wear the all-white suit and Kimbrough's suit will have broken red stripes. They will work to finish up cleaning, lubrication and bearing assembly replacements on the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ).

Bowen and Kimbrough are scheduled to leave the station's Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. Monday on the mission's fourth spacewalk and continue work on the station's Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ). They both will remove insulating covers on the port SARJ and Kimbrough will follow through with its lubrication. Bowen will finish tasks on the starboard SARJ to install the final trundle bearing assembly.

Today's spacewalk preparations include tool assembly, an hour-long spacewalk procedures review and the beginning of the campout in the Quest airlock for the spacewalkers. Bowen and Kimbrough are scheduled to leave the station's Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. Monday on the mission's fourth spacewalk.

Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen today completed the third spacewalk of Endeavour's mission to the International Space Station. The spacewalk began at 12:01 p.m. CST and ended at 6:58 p.m. for a total time of six hours and 57 minutes.

Spacewalkers Piper and Bowen are scheduled to leave the station's Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. Piper, the lead spacewalker, will wear the red-striped suit while Bowen will be in the all-white suit. Their work will be further cleaning and lubrication of the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) and replacement of some of more its bearing assemblies.

The space shuttle and International Space Station crews were hard at work transferring, assembling and testing hardware at the station today. Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus tested latches on the Exposed Facility Berthing Mechanism for the Japanese Kibo laboratory. The mechanism will be used to install an exterior science platform from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency during a shuttle flight next year.

After completing a spacewalk on Thursday, Endeavour and International Space Station crew members will work today on getting ready for another spacewalk on Saturday, transferring material between the station and the shuttle and other tasks.

Building on Tuesday's spacewalk experience, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Shane Kimbrough headed out of the International Space Station's Quest Airlock at 11:58 a.m. CST to continue the process of removing debris around the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) and applying lubrication in an effort to eventually restore it to full functionality. The EVA ended at 6:43 p.m. for a total time of six hours and 45 minutes. As the spacewalkers were finishing up their activities, ground controllers noticed that Kimbrough's carbon dioxide levels were increasing, so he made his way back to the airlock a few minutes ahead of Piper.

Spacewalkers Piper and Kimbrough are scheduled to leave the station's Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. CST. Piper will wear the red-striped suit while Kimbrough will be in the suit with broken red stripes. Boe will be the intravehicular officer or spacewalk choreographer, while Pettit and Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus will operate Canadarm2.

Station flight engineer Sandra Magnus and her predecessor Greg Chamitoff moved the port and starboard crew quarters to the station and installed them in the Harmony node. They also installed a rack with equipment for return to Earth inside the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.

NASA astronauts on Space Shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission will install an instrument on the International Space Station that can 'smell' dangerous chemicals in the air. Designed to help protect crew members' health and safety, the experimental 'ENose' will monitor the space station's environment for chemicals such as ammonia, mercury, methanol and formaldehyde. 'The ENose fills [...]

The crews will begin preparations for the second of four mission spacewalks, this one to start at 12:45 p.m. CST Thursday. The preparations include a spacewalk procedure review for shuttle astronauts and station Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus. Subsequently spacewalkers Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Shane Kimbrough will begin the standard pre-spacewalk campout in the station's Quest airlock.

Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen completed the first of four spacewalks scheduled for Endeavour's mission to the International Space Station today. The spacewalk was the 115th in support of ISS construction.

The first of four spacewalks scheduled for Endeavour crew members at the International Space Station will highlight today's activities in orbit. Much of the work by Endeavour crew members, Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Don Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Greg Chamitoff, will involve the spacewalk and transfer of equipment and supplies between the station and Endeavour.

The joint Space Shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station crews today took the first step toward updating the complex's interior by installing a packed logistics module on a docking port. The Leonardo Multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM) - stuffed with additional sleeping stations, new exercise equipment, a water regeneration system, experiments and hardware - was carefully moved from Endeavour's payload bay to the station in preparation for unloading for the next several days.

Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo and its seven-ton-plus cargo will be grappled by the station's Canadarm2 at about 10:25 a.m. to begin the installation process. Leonardo's cargo will help prepare the station for a six-member crew. Scheduled next year, that will enable more science to be performed aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The Shuttle and Station crews opened hatches and greeted one another at 6:16 p.m. CST, beginning more than a week of joint operations between the two crews. The crews will collaborate on the delivery of the key life support and habitability systems that will enable long-term, self-sustaining station operations for a six-person resident crew. The crews also will conduct four spacewalks to service and lubricate the Station's two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints that allow its solar arrays to track the Sun.