Though the next shuttle launch marks the end of an era for Endeavour, it will mark the beginning for a new NASA rendezvous and docking sensor technology designed to support future crew and uncrewed spacecraft.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is designed to open human eyes to invisible cosmic rays.
The captains of two craft named for James Cook's bark Endeavour exchanged letters of greetings and well wishes.
Space shuttle Endeavour has spent 19 years pushing boundaries, and its final mission will allow that legacy to live on.
The astronauts of Endeavour's last mission are marking the achievement with several notable mementoes.
A new experiment designed to reveal the origin and structure of the universe is preparing for launch at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The next generation in docking and rendezvous technology will make its debut early next year during the STS-134 mission.