April 13, 2009-- Space Shuttle Endeavour may be the last Shuttle to blastoff from launch pad 39B, but only if an emergency occurs. Endeavour is set to roll the pad on Friday to act as the "rescue Shuttle" if Atlantis is damaged during its mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. The observatory is too high in orbit, compared to the International Space Station for the Atlantis crew to retreat to the outpost. Endeavour would blast off one week later to retrieve the endangered Atlantis astronauts. Pad 39B has been transformed to accommodate the new Orion capsule. With the exception of Endeavour's rescue flight, the remainder of NASA's Shuttle missions will be off pad 39A.

Also, here's the link to my talk last week with space policy expert Dr. John Logsdon on the much delayed search for a new NASA Administrator...

http://www.wmfe.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9291&news_iv_ctrl=1041