Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, left, and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev. Photo courtesy NASA. The crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour woke up Sunday morning to the sounds of Russell Watson singing "Where My Heart Will Take Me," the title song from Enterprise.
Each morning during a space shuttle mission, NASA's flight control team at Mission Control in Houston transmits a musical piece as a wake-up call to the orbiting crew. These musical selections are usually chosen because they have some connection to the crew or to the mission.
The choice of the Enterprise title song is particularly appropriate, since the show's title montage includes the construction of the International Space Station in Earth orbit. Endeavour transported a new crew, known as Expedition 5, to the orbital outpost, including flight engineer Peggy Whitson, who is the space station's first Science Officer.
Space Shuttle Endeavour also delivered equipment, supplies, and experiments to the International Space Station. Endeavour's crew conducted three space walks to install new equipment on the orbiting science laboratory. Although the shuttle has departed from the station, you can follow its orbit (and the orbit of the station itself) at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/.
Endeavour is currently scheduled to return to Earth on Tuesday, June 18th, although there is a possibility of a delay due to bad weather at the landing site in Florida.