NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mission: STS-130
Orbiter: Endeavour
Primary Payload: Tranquility Node 3, cupola
Launched: Feb. 8, 2010
Launch Time: 4:14 a.m. EST
Launch Pad: 39A
Landed: Feb. 21 - 10:20 p.m. EST
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mission Duration: 14 days
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

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Endeavour Delivers "Windows to the World"
Space shuttle Endeavour majestically lifted off into an early morning sky from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:14 a.m. EST Feb. 8, 2010, beginning the STS-130 mission.

The six STS-130 astronauts aboard Endeavour were Commander George Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts, and Mission Specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Patrick Behnken and Nicholas Patrick.

Image above: Space shuttle Endeavour roars to life on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Tom Farrar and Tony Gray
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Their mission: to deliver and install the final U.S. module, named Tranquility, to the International Space Station.

Tranquility was the name chosen from thousands of suggestions submitted by participants on NASA's Web site, "Help Name Node 3."

They also took up the cupola, a mini control tower attached to the Tranquility node that provides an incredible view of Earth from seven windows.

About two days after launch, Endeavour met up with the space station, and the hatches were opened as the orbiting outpost flew over the northwest coast of Australia. With greetings accomplished, crew members began transferring cargo from Endeavour's payload bay.

After the last three spacewalks and the addition of the last components of the U.S. section, the shuttle and station crews began an extra day of joint docked operations to complete the relocation of the station's regenerative life support system into the new Tranquility module.

Image above: The xenon lights at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida reveal space shuttle Endeavour nearing touchdown on Runway 15. Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph and Kevin O'Connell
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The mission was highlighted with a congratulatory phone call from U.S. President Barack Obama, accompanied at the White House by several middle school students from across the country.

With a difficult but successful mission passing into history, the Endeavour crew closed the hatches between the two spacecraft and prepared for their journey back to Earth.

The previously forecasted showers remained offshore and the crew was given the "go" for deorbit burn and subsequent landing at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility.

Endeavour touched down on Runway 15, Feb. 21 at 10:20 p.m. EST, completing more than 5.7 million miles and almost 14 days in space.