Two Days Until Last Endeavour Shuttle Launch

"NASA Clears Space Shuttle Endeavour for One Last Launch"
Clara Moskowitz, Space.com (April 27, 2011)

"The space shuttle Endeavour is officially 'go' to launch on its 25th and last spaceflight this Friday (April 29), with NASA expecting record crowds and visit from President Barack Obama to watch the spectacle.

"NASA mission managers cleared Endeavour for launch this morning after meeting to review any concerns...."

As the Lemming's opined before, this isn't so much an end - as a beginning. The Space Shuttle fleet has done a good job of helping get the International Space Station built, and demonstrating that (fairly) regular ferry service to low Earth orbit is possible.

The Lemming will probably indulge in a little nostalgia this Friday. But that's about what's been done. There are more than a half-dozen spaceports in this country, many more around the world today. With folks like Richard Branson developing ways to make use of rapidly-developing technologies, the Lemming thinks that 'the sky's the limit' - - - and that the sky's gotten a whole lot farther away.

Related posts:

• "Space Shuttle Discovery: 27 Years, Last Flight Done"
  (March 9, 2011)
• "Four Ships Docked at the ISS"
  (February 28, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Infographic: From Steering Thrusters to Rudder/Speed Brake"
  (January 31, 2011)
• "Last Flights of the First Space Freighters, New Construction at Spaceports"
  (September 23, 2010)
• "Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch: Aerial Snapshot"
  (June 26, 2010)

More:

• "Endeavour"
  NASA Orbiter Fleet, NASA
• "Endeavour Tribute"
  NASA
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