The newest orbiter Endeavour (Orbiter Vehicle 105), is named after
the first ship commanded by James Cook, the 18th century British
explorer, navigator and astronomer. On Endeavour's maiden voyage in
August 1768, Cook sailed to the South Pacific (to observe and
record the infrequent event of the planet Venus passing between the
Earth and the sun). Determining the transit of Venus enabled early
astronomers to find the distance of the sun from the Earth, which
then could be used as a unit of measurement in calculating the
parameters of the universe. In 1769, Cook was the first person to
fully chart New Zealand. Cook also surveyed the eastern coast of
Australia, navigated the Great Barrier Reef and traveled to Hawaii.
Endeavour and her crew reportedly made the first long-distance
voyage on which no crewman died from scurvy, the dietary disease
caused by lack of ascorbic acids. Cook is credited with being the
first captain to use diet as a cure for scurvy, when he made his
crew eat cress, sauerkraut and an orange extract.
A national competition involving students in elementary and
secondary schools produced the name of the new orbiter, and it was
announced by President George W. Bush in 1989.
Endeavour was first delivered to Kennedy Space Center in 1991
and made her maiden voyage in 1992 on the
STS-49 mission. Endeavour was assembled mostly from spare parts
created during the construction of Columbia, Challenger, Discovery,
and Atlantis and was built as a replacement for the orbiter
Challenger when she was destroyed during the
STS-51L mission, killing all seven of her crew. Endeavour has
flown 22 missions since her inaugural flight with only three
missions remaining before her retirement. Her last flight is slated
to be the STS-133 mission scheduled to launch July 29th, 2010.
Other caches in the series:
Orbiter Micro Series - Discovery (OV103)
Orbiter Micro Series - Columbia (OV102)
Orbiter Micro Series - Atlantis (OV104)