Space Shuttle Endeavour Fully Fueled; Moving Closer to Final Launch

NASA(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) -- Space shuttle Endeavour is one step closer to leaving for its mission to the International Space Station after its external tank was loaded with over 500,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen Monday morning, just hours ahead of its launch.

The six-man crew, headed by Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, have completed their medical exams and are making preparations for the shuttle's final launch at 8:56 a.m.  They will be suiting up close to 5 a.m. and will be briefed on the weather, which forecasters predict as 70 percent favorable for lift-off.

Endeavour's launch will mark the second to last flight for NASA's space shuttle program.  The shuttle's crew will embark on a 16-day mission into space, where they will will install a $2 billion alpha magnetic spectrometer on the ISS.  The instrument could prove or disprove the Big Bang Theory of how the universe was formed.

Rep. Giffords, who was critically wounded during the shootings in Tucson, Arizona in January, is expected to be on hand at the Kennedy Space Center to watch Kelly and the other five astronauts ascend into space.

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