1 00:00:00,630 --> 00:00:07,710 \h Music 2 00:00:07,710 --> 00:00:09,630 \h George Diller Launch Commentator: "Go for main engine start, 3 00:00:09,630 --> 00:00:10,480 \h 8... 4 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:11,280 \h 7... 5 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:12,100 \h 6... 6 00:00:12,100 --> 00:00:13,000 \h 5... 7 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:13,990 \h 4... 8 00:00:13,990 --> 00:00:15,010 \h 3... 9 00:00:15,010 --> 00:00:16,120 \h 2... 10 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:17,220 \h 1... 11 00:00:17,220 --> 00:00:21,780 \h zero...and liftoff for the final launch of Endeavour... 12 00:00:21,780 --> 00:00:26,830 \h expanding our knowledge and expanding our lives in space." 13 00:00:26,830 --> 00:00:31,150 \h And with that, space shuttle Endeavour embarked on its final flight on the morning of 14 00:00:31,150 --> 00:00:37,070 \h May 16, 2011, carrying six crew members on their way to complete U.S. construction of 15 00:00:37,070 --> 00:00:39,280 \h the International Space Station. 16 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:41,590 \h Under the command of Mark Kelly, 17 00:00:41,590 --> 00:00:43,070 \h Pilot Greg Johnson and 18 00:00:43,070 --> 00:00:44,800 \h Mission Specialists Mike Fincke, 19 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:46,030 \h Greg Chamitoff, 20 00:00:46,030 --> 00:00:48,020 \h Drew Feustel and the European Space Agency’s 21 00:00:48,020 --> 00:00:51,350 \h Roberto Vittori headed to orbit. 22 00:00:51,350 --> 00:00:55,380 \h After the remote inspection of the shuttle's exterior thermal protection system was 23 00:00:55,380 --> 00:01:00,990 \h complete, Vittori and Johnson used the shuttle's robotic arm to reach into the payload bay 24 00:01:00,990 --> 00:01:04,250 \h and grapple the Express Logistics Carrier. 25 00:01:04,250 --> 00:01:08,120 \h Once Endeavour caught up with the station, Kelly put the shuttle through a "backflip" 26 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:13,000 \h at a distance of 600 feet to allow the station crew to photograph Endeavour's thermal 27 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,110 \h protection tiles before docking. 28 00:01:16,110 --> 00:01:19,230 \h During the docking process an advanced system called 29 00:01:19,230 --> 00:01:24,630 \h STORMM -- or Sensor Test for Orion Rel-nav Risk Mitigation -- gathered data that could 30 00:01:24,630 --> 00:01:27,610 \h help future spacecraft dock to the station. 31 00:01:27,610 --> 00:01:32,210 \h Soon after docking and the hatches were opened, the Express Logistics Carrier containing 32 00:01:32,210 --> 00:01:38,490 \h space parts was installed on the station's exterior using shuttle and station robotic arms. 33 00:01:38,490 --> 00:01:43,570 \h The chief payload -- the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 -- was handed off from the 34 00:01:43,570 --> 00:01:47,660 \h shuttle arm to the station's and then placed in its permanent position atop 35 00:01:47,660 --> 00:01:50,470 \h the starboard 3 truss. 36 00:01:50,470 --> 00:01:56,100 \h The spectrometer is a 15,000-pound, $2 billion advanced scientific instrument that could 37 00:01:56,100 --> 00:02:00,640 \h answer basic questions about our universe, perhaps shedding light on dark matter 38 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:02,660 \h and antimatter. 39 00:02:02,660 --> 00:02:07,310 \h The mission’s first of four spacewalks was completed by Feustel and Chamitoff as they 40 00:02:07,310 --> 00:02:11,730 \h swapped exterior experiments and installed equipment in more than six hours 41 00:02:11,730 --> 00:02:14,210 \h outside the station. 42 00:02:14,210 --> 00:02:18,000 \h The following day, the crew used the station's robotic arm to conduct a focused 43 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:23,320 \h inspection to collect photographs and data on a small area of damage spotted on 44 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:25,440 \h Endearvour's underside. 45 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:30,810 \h The information gathered enabled mission managers to clear Endeavour for its return. 46 00:02:30,810 --> 00:02:35,590 \h That same day, the combined crews joined together in the Kibo module for a special call 47 00:02:35,590 --> 00:02:40,900 \h from Pope Benedict XVI. 48 00:02:40,900 --> 00:02:46,090 \h Spacewalk two paired Fincke and Feustel as they spent eight hours completing station 49 00:02:46,090 --> 00:02:47,500 \h maintenance tasks. 50 00:02:47,500 --> 00:02:52,530 \h Among those tasks -- topping off ammonia in a cooling loop and lubricating a solar array 51 00:02:52,530 --> 00:02:57,960 \h joint on the port truss and one of the hands on Dextre robotic arm. 52 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,510 \h There was a break in the busy schedule when three of the station's 53 00:03:01,510 --> 00:03:04,610 \h crew members departed the station aboard a Russian Soyuz and 54 00:03:04,610 --> 00:03:07,120 \h returned to Earth on May 23. 55 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:12,050 \h It marked the only time a Soyuz departed the station while a space shuttle was docked. 56 00:03:12,050 --> 00:03:16,160 \h The following day, the remaining combined crew of nine had time to complete some 57 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,170 \h interior maintenance around the station. 58 00:03:19,170 --> 00:03:25,410 \h The third spacewalk was once again conducted by the team of Fincke and Feustel. 59 00:03:25,410 --> 00:03:29,950 \h Performing a number of tasks in just short of seven hours, the spacewalkers left the 60 00:03:29,950 --> 00:03:35,260 \h Canadarm2 closer to having a new base of operation which will give it access to much of 61 00:03:35,260 --> 00:03:38,370 \h the orbiting laboratory's Russian segment. 62 00:03:38,370 --> 00:03:42,600 \h After the docked inspection and clearance for Endeavour from Houston, 63 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:47,610 \h the fourth and last spacewalk was conducted by Chamitoff and Fincke. 64 00:03:47,610 --> 00:03:52,150 \h The outing marked the final spacewalk by space shuttle crew members. 65 00:03:52,150 --> 00:03:56,870 \h Among the tasks in their almost seven-and-a-half hour work, the spacewalkers attached 66 00:03:56,870 --> 00:04:02,150 \h the shuttle's boom sensor to the station -- making it the final major U.S. piece to be added 67 00:04:02,150 --> 00:04:04,880 \h to the orbiting laboratory. 68 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:10,000 \h Greg Chamitoff STS-134 Mission Specialist:"On behalf of the STS-134 crew and the Expedition 27 crew 69 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,870 \h space station assembly is complete." 70 00:04:13,870 --> 00:04:19,070 \h With construction complete and supplies delivered during 11 days of joint operations, 71 00:04:19,070 --> 00:04:24,040 \h the two crews said goodbye and the hatches were closed between the two spacecraft. 72 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:29,630 \h After undocking, the shuttle completed a fly-around, providing amazing images of the 73 00:04:29,630 --> 00:04:31,850 \h fully completed station. 74 00:04:31,850 --> 00:04:35,310 \h Fincke -- who during the mission became the U.S. astronaut with the most time 75 00:04:35,310 --> 00:04:40,220 \h in space -- later described the crew's feelings looking at the completed station 76 00:04:40,220 --> 00:04:42,850 \h Mike Fincke STS-134 Mission Specialist: "I think we all should be really impressed how big 77 00:04:42,850 --> 00:04:45,720 \h and magnificent that space station is, 78 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:51,900 \h we were impressed; we were exited like five-year olds at a rollercoaster park a mean it was pretty impressive." 79 00:04:51,900 --> 00:04:58,140 \h The STS-134 crew performed an additional test of the STORRM equipment during a 80 00:04:58,140 --> 00:05:01,540 \h rendezvous exercise before backing away from the station. 81 00:05:01,540 --> 00:05:07,000 \h Endeavour's final return to Earth came in the overnight hours, as its ghostly outline -- lit 82 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:13,840 \h by the runway's xenon lights -- appeared out of the darkness at 2:35 a.m. on June 1. 83 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:16,910 \h Mark Kelly STS-134 Commander: "Houston, Endeavour, wheelstop. 84 00:05:16,910 --> 00:05:20,320 \h Mission Control: One hundred and twenty-two million miles flown during 25 challenging 85 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:25,600 \h spaceflights, your landing ends a vibrant legacy for this amazing vehicle that will long be 86 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,140 \h remembered. Welcome home, Endeavour."