Endeavor’s Final Voyage next-to-last space shuttle flight

T-3 hours to launch of Endeavor the youngest shuttle built to replace space shuttle Challenger after the devastating accident in 1986. Challenger and crew were lost approximately 73 seconds after liftoff. NASA archives. 

Endeavor first soared into space six years after the Challenge accident. Named through a national competition involving students in elementary and secondary schools. Entries included an essay about the name, the story behind it and why it was appropriate for a NASA shuttle. Endeavour was named after a ship chartered to traverse the South Pacific in 1768 and captained by 18th century explorer James Cook. Just as James Cook set the standard with his seafaring Endeavour voyage, the Space Shuttle Endeavour missions have continued to uphold and surpass the standards set by its namesake, more than 200 years later. full story

• First flight (STS-49) May 7, 1992
• First service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993
• First time four spacewalks were conducted
• Longest spacewalk, lasting more than eight hours
• After 18 years of service this will be the 25th mission

Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. Yes the same Mark Kelly, husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords another example of human endeavor.CREDIT: collectSPACE/Robert Z. Pearlman

Endeavor will follow Discovery in to retirement, the second-to-last shuttle mission, as NASA winds down the 30-year shuttle program with one last fling by Atlantis in a few months.

California Science Center in Los Angeles hase been chosen by NASA as the permanent museum site of Space Shuttle Endeavor, inspiring the next generation of explores.

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor- Vince Lombardi