President Obama along with a host of other guests are expected to hold a yakfest with the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station this afternoon. (watch it here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live).
The president is expected to congratulate the astronauts on their ongoing mission which has seen them handle three spacewalks as well as conduct some sophisticated robotic crane work to attach a fancy new observatory module known as the cupola and bolt on a new crew module called Tranquility. Both modules are the last pieces of the ISS the US will add to the station.
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Joining the president at the expected 5:15pm EST call are 12 students from Birney Middle School of Detroit, Elkhorn Middle School of Omaha, Neb., St. Thomas the Apostle of Miami and Davidson IB Middle School of Davidson, N.C. These students are in Washington as leaders of four of 39 teams participating in the "Future City" engineering competition hosted by National Engineers Week, NASA stated.
The president speaks to the astronauts as his administration is looking to reshape the space agency. For example during its 2011 budget rollout earlier this month the administration today said NASA should further commercial space flight efforts and asked for $6 billion over five years to spur the development of American commercial human spaceflight vehicles. As the space shuttle retires this year, NASA will have to use other means to get its astronauts to the ISS.
Endeavour's crew members are Commander George Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts and Mission Specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken. The Expedition 22 space station crew members are Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov, Maxim Suraev, T.J. Creamer, and Soichi Noguchi.
NASA astronauts officially opened the cupola observatory today. Its seven windows face Earth and can be shuttered when not in use to protect them from micrometeoroids and the harsh space environment. At just under ten feet in diameter, the Cupola will accommodate two crew members and portable workstations that can control station and robotic activities. The view will let the ISS crew monitor spacewalks and docking operations, as well as provide a spectacular view of Earth and other celestial objects, NASA stated.
The Tranquality module adds room for crew members and many of the space station's life support and environmental control systems including include air revitalization, oxygen generation and water recycling.
Endeavour is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center next Sunday, Feb. 21, after undocking from the station at 6:54 p.m. Friday.
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