The Last Flight of Endeavor

(UPDATE: Endeavor launched on May 16, 2011. You can watch the launch on YouTube by following this link.)

Space Shuttle Endeavor's last flight is scheduled for Friday, April 29th, at 2:47 PM CST. You may be able to watch the launch on NASA TV, where they will also broadcast videos throughout Endeavor's mission at the International Space Station. Friday's launch coverage begins at 9:30 AM. NASA has also created a playlist for STS-134 on their YouTube channel.

The mission commander for STS-134 is Captain Mark Kelly, the husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Congresswoman Giffords was recently cleared by her physicians to attend the shuttle's launch in Florida. This is the thirtieth and last year of NASA's Space Shuttle program, as well as the fiftieth year of manned space flight. The last flight of Atlantis is scheduled for launch from Kennedy Space Center on June 28th. The Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum has a number of exhibits and features on the shuttle program that you can explore on their website.

We also have several books on the Space Shuttle program available at Carnegie-Stout:
Space Shuttles by Robin Kerrod
Space Shuttle: the first 20 years edited by Tony Reichhardt
Final Countdown: NASA and the end of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins
Sky Walking: an astronaut's memoir by Tom Jones
Riding Rockets: the outrageous tales of a space shuttle astronaut by Mike Mullane

Other books and DVDs on the history of space exploration available at Carnegie-Stout Public Library

You might also enjoy this fourteen minute video from NASA on the space shuttle narrated by William Shatner: