The Space Shuttle Endeavour Lifts Off For The Last Time Today, Here's How You Can Follow The Action

The Space Shuttle has been called the pickup truck of space. Well, for the Endeavour, today is the last time it will make the journey to its awesome work site. Like any truck it just wants to get the job done and blasted off minutes ago for one last trip to the ISS.

This last trip into space isn’t a joy ride for the Endeavour. It’s set to deploy the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which Wikipedia tells me is a particle physics experiment that’s designed to study dark matter, antimatter, and the formation of the universe. Along with the new ISS module, the Endeaveour is carrying spare parts, a gas tank and a new communication antenna.

NASA makes it easy for everyone to follow along though. The space agency is well versed in the fine art of communicating through social networks. Actually, someone from NASA should probably send a PowerPoint to the rest of the US’ agencies, showing them the joys of livestreaming and Twitter.

Live broadcast

Streaming live video by Ustream

NASA TV is tasked with broadcasting the mission. Either watch the Ustream embed above or you could click through to NASA’s internal site. There are even iOS and Android streams.

Google Earth

You can follow the shuttle’s trajectory and flight path using Google Earth. First, download Google Earth and then this file to enable the tracking.

Twitter

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NASA is a pro on Twitter. Follow @NASA_Astronauts for, well, the NASA Astrounauts, @NASA_Johnson is the space center, but it seems the most active today is @NASA.