Shuttle Crew Prepares to End Mission

The STS-134 crew members were awakened at 5:57 p.m. EDT with the song “Sunrise Number 1,” performed by the band Stormy Mondays. This song was chosen in an online vote of the general public as the winner in the Space Shuttle Program’s Original Song Contest, which attracted 1350 entrants.

The shuttle crew begins deorbit preparations at 9:26 p.m. and should close Endeavour payload bay doors at 10:49 p.m. By 1:19 a.m. Wednesday Entry Flight Director Tony Ceccacci will poll his team for a “go” or “no-go” on the deorbit burn; assuming the decision is “go,” Commander Mark Kelly will fire Endeavour’s engines at 1:29 a.m. to slow the orbiter enough for it to fall out of orbit and begin the last leg of its trip, concluding with a touchdown on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility at 2:35 a.m.

Space shuttle Atlantis now is moving out of Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building headed for Launch Pad 39A. First motion was at 8:42 p.m. EDT.

Technicians repaired a minor hydraulic leak on a corner valve for the jacking and elevation system on the crawler-transporter, which delayed the scheduled 8 p.m. rollout start.

The media Q&A with Atlantis’ four astronauts on NASA TV is expected about 9:15 p.m.