Update: Endeavour in VAB

Shuttle Endeavour is a step closer to ready for a possible emergency launch to rescue the crew of Atlantis, if that shuttle sustains unreparable damage during its upcoming mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Endeavour backed out of its processing hangar at Kennedy Space Center just before 7 a.m. today, riding on a 76-wheeled transport vehicle. About an hour later, it was positioned inside the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building a short distance away.

Over the next week, the orbiter will be mated to twin solid rocket boosters and an external tank, which are already stacked on a mobile launch platform.

The assembled shuttle is scheduled to be rolled to launch pad 39B at 12:01 a.m. next Thursday, where it will rest about a mile north of Atlantis on pad 39A.

It will be the first time since July 2001 that shuttles are positioned on both launch pads simultaneously.

Endeavour will be on standby for an Atlantis rescue mission, since that crew won't be able to reach the International Space Station as a safe haven.

But Endeavour is also preparing for its own mission to service the space station, which is now set to launch Nov. 12 and land on Thanksgiving.

Atlantis is targeted for liftoff Oct. 10, landing Oct. 20.

Click here to link to FLORIDA TODAY photographer Mike Brown's complete photo gallery of this morning's Endeavour rollover.

Image note: Click on the images to enlarge them. Top: sunlight glints off Endeavour as it rolls from its processing hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. Center: Endeavour backs out of its hangar just after sunrise. Bottom: Endeavour enters the 52-story assembly building. Photo credit: Mike Brown/FLORIDA TODAY.