Boeing lays off 260 shuttle workers in Houston, Houston Chronicle “Boeing today sent layoff notices to 510 employees – including 260 in Houston – involved in space shuttle work. The notices give 60 days advance notice of an expected job elimination. The workers’ last day would be Aug. 5, pending the completion of the final space shuttle mission, STS-135. Boeing said in a statement that is working to keep as […]

Just one flight: Impending loss in shuttle family, AP “And now there is only one. With Wednesday’s landing of Endeavour, just one more space shuttle flight remains, putting an end to 30 years of Florida shuttle launches and more than 535 million miles of orbits controlled at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. Now a sense of melancholy has permeated the community that calls itself “the space shuttle family.”

Stunning Images: ISS Flies Over Earth At Night – Stars Above, Lights Below “A portion of the International Space Station is visible in these views of a starry sky and Earth’s horizon, photographed by an STS-134 crew member while space shuttle Endeavour remains docked with the station.”

NASA Sets News Conference With Shuttle And Space Station Crews “The nine crew members aboard space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station will hold a news conference starting at 5:42 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 26. Reporters may ask questions in person from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Kennedy Space Center in Florida and agency headquarters in Washington.” Keith’s note: Less than 24 hours notice about this crew […]

Photos: Lifting of Atlantis From Horizontal to Vertical in the KSC Vehicle Assembly Building “This past Wednesday the orbiter Atlantis was lifted and mated to her external tank and solid rocket boosters in preparation for her final flight and the programs last shuttle flight. A tentative date of July 8th at approximately 11:40 am EDT has been set for the last ever shuttle launch.”

Space Shuttle Endeavour Launches on Her Last Mission, SpaceRef “For the nearly 500,000 people watching the launch live in and around the Kennedy Space Centre the Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted off with on a plume of bright orange flame and quickly disappeared into the low clouds. With everyone holding their breath as low clouds surrounded the launch pad the countdown progressed with nary a glitch. When the countdown reached t-minus […]

Endeavour’s Final Launch Inspires Hands-on Public Engagement: High Altitude Balloon Mission “The helium-filled balloon carrying the “Senatobia-1″ payload will be launched from the vicinity of Gainesville, Florida. The expected balloon launch time is on Monday, 16 May between 7:30 to 7:45 am EDT. This will allow the balloon and its payload to be in position at an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet for Endeavour’s supersonic transit of the stratosphere beginning […]

Keith’s note: The Crew of Space Shuttle Discovery will be featured on West Wing Week (from the White House) today at 2:30 pm EDT. Watch here. They are also featured in last week’s edition here.

NASA STS-134 Update: Endeavour Launch No Earlier Than Monday, May 16 “NASA managers met Friday afternoon and determined space shuttle Endeavour will launch no earlier than Monday, May 16 at 8:56 a.m. EDT. This weekend, technicians will continue to repair and retest electrical circuitry that caused a postponement of Endeavour’s April 29 launch attempt. NASA will air a news conference Monday at 3 p.m., to discuss the status of the […]

It’s a Unanimous “Go” for Endeavour “The Space Shuttle Program Mission Management Team voted unanimously to proceed toward Endeavour’s scheduled liftoff at 3:47 p.m. EDT Friday. Mike Moses, chair of the Prelaunch Mission Management team, reported that it was a very short meeting and everything is in great shape and ready to go.” NASA Invites 150 Lucky Twitter Followers To Endeavour Launch “NASA invited 150 lucky people to a behind-the-scenes […]