NASA officials announced that space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-123 mission is officially set for launch after getting the "go" from the Mission Management Team on Sunday.

"I’m happy to report that the mission management team is not working any issues or constraints to launch," said LeRoy Cain, chair for the team.

Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is scheduled for 2:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 11.
Endeavour's crew includes Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory Johnson and Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's, Takao Doi. Endeavour is launching with the expectation of staying in space for 16 days, and there are always extra days set aside in case weather or a technical problem delays landing.

NASA has scheduled five spacewalks for the mission STS-123. During the first three spacewalks, the astronauts will install the first pressurized section, Japanese Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-PS), of the future Kibo (Hope) Japanese module and the Canadian Space Agency’s newest contribution to the station, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator or Dextre.

The Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator weighs approximately 3400 pounds. It is 12 feet high and 7.7 feet wide. Each arm extends 11 feet.

With advanced stabilization and handling capabilities, Dextre can perform delicate human-scale tasks such as removing and replacing small exterior components.  Operated by crew members inside the station or by flight controllers on the ground, it also is equipped with lights, video equipment, a stowage platform, and three robotic tools.

The fourth spacewalk will be used to replace a remote power control module and test a shuttle tile repair material. The repair material test was originally scheduled for Discovery’s mission last October, but was rescheduled so that problems with the station’s solar arrays could be addressed.

The goal is to complete this test before space shuttle Atlantis flies to the Hubble Space Telescope in August. Unlike missions to the space station, Atlantis’ crew members wouldn’t be able to wait on the station for another shuttle to bring them home if Atlantis was damaged.

On the fifth spacewalk, mission specialists Robert L. Behnken and Mike Foreman will store on the station the boom that attaches to the shuttle’s robotic arm for heat shield inspections.

“If you had to go to a drawing board and describe an exciting mission from scratch, I think you’d come up with STS-123,” Dominic L. Gorie, the flight commander said during a news conference.

The current weather forecast calls for only a 10 percent chance atmospheric conditions will delay the launch, with the primary concern coming from a slight chance of a low cloud ceiling around Kennedy.

NASA officials said, that according to the launch schedule, at 6 a.m. Monday the gantry-like rotating service structure that provides the primary access and weather protection for the vehicle will be retracted and fueling the external tank begins at 5:03 p.m.

Fueling should be complete by 8 p.m. and Endeavour's crew is expected to begin strapping in for launch just after 11 p.m. Monday. Endeavour is expected to return to Kennedy Space Center, March 26 at 8:35 p.m. ET.