The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Tuesday that preparations for the space shuttle Endeavour's launch were on track and the weather looks good for liftoff later this week. “We are not working any issues at this time,” assistant NASA test director Jeremy Graeber said. The shuttle is set to depart on Friday at 1947 GMT from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on a 14-day mission to the International Space Station. Once shuttle Endeavour returns to Earth it will become the second of the three-shuttle fleet to enter retirement. Discovery ended its final mission in March, and Atlantis is scheduled for its last mission in June, after which the 30-year U.S. space shuttle program will end and astronauts will rely on Russia's space capsules for transit to the orbiting research station.
