This amazing photo was taken from the International Space Station showing the Space Shuttle Endeavour over Cook Strait, New Zealand. It was taken on November 25, 2002, as the space
Space Shuttle Endeavour
A retired orbiter from NASA’s Space Shuttle program, Endeavour was the fifth and final operational shuttle built. It embarked on its first mission, STS-49, in May 1992 and its 25th and final mission, STS-134, in May 2011. It completed 25 missions while carrying a total of 173 crewmembers aboard.
It is named after the HMS Endeavour, a British Royal Navy research vessel which took Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) on his first voyage of discovery between 1768 and 1771. That’s why the name is spelled in the British English manner, “Endeavour”, rather than the American English (“Endeavor”).
James Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
The Cook Strait is also named after James Cook. He sailed through it in 1770. lies between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast and runs next to the capital city, Wellington. It is 22 km(14 mi) wide at its narrowest point and is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world.
During the 14-day mission in late 2002, Space Shuttle Endeavour and its crew extended the ISS backbone with the P1 truss and exchanged the Expedition 5 and Expedition 6 crews aboard the station.
With Commander Jim Wetherbee and Pilot Paul Lockhart at the controls, Endeavour docked with the station on November 25, 2002, to begin seven days of station assembly, spacewalks and crew and equipment transfers. This was Endeavour’s last flight before entering its Orbiter Major Modification period until 2007, and also the last shuttle mission before the Columbia disaster.
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