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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA is about to launch the mother of all Super Bowl pregame shows with the space shuttle Endeavour, which is poised to blast off before dawn on Sunday morning.

“Its going to be a special day,” said shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach. “Were going to launch Sunday morning and were going to watch the big game Sunday night.“

Endeavour and a crew of six astronauts are slated launch toward the International Space Station from a seaside pad here at NASAs Kennedy Space Center. Liftoff is set for 4:39 a.m. EST (0939 GMT), about 14 hours before the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints kick off Super Bowl 44 in South Florida.

“Were not going to change our plans based on the Super Bowl, frankly,” Leinbach said, adding that tomorrows game is not the first or the last football championship game. “So there have been quite a few, and there will probably be more.”

The weather looks good for the launch attempt, with an 80 percent chance of clear skies. But if the launch is delayed, NASA will gladly skip the Super Bowl to get Endeavour ready to fly on Monday.

Endeavours planned 13-day mission is the first of NASAs five final shuttle missions before the space agency retires its aging orbiter fleet later this year. It is NASAs last major construction job to build the 11-year-old station.

NASA will begin fueling Endeavour for launch Saturday night at around 7 p.m. EST (0000 GMT).

The predawn shuttle launch is also expected to be the last ever to blast off in darkness.

The shuttle will deliver a new room to the station along with a dome-shaped observation portal lined with windows. They will be installed during three spacewalks by the astronauts, who will be following an overnight work shift.

At liftoff, Endeavours twin solid rocket boosters will light up the night sky, Zamka said. Thats the first thing Florida skywatchers will see. The rumbling roar of the shuttles rocket engines will reach the crowds a short time later as Endeavour climbs into the morning sky.

“It should be spectacular,” said Endeavour commander George Zamka, who will make his second trip to space on the mission. [How to see the shuttle launch.]

Set to launch spaceward on Endeavour with Zamka are shuttle pilot Terry Virts and mission specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Robert Behnken and Nick Patrick. All are veteran spaceflyers with the exception of Virts, who is making his first spaceflight.

“Its going to light up the ground around,” he said. “You should be able to see it from as far as the Carolinas, I think, if the skies are clear. It should be a wonderful sight.” In fact, experts say the shuttle could be visible from as far away as New York if the skies are clear enough.

Zamkas five-man, one-woman crew will deliver the stations new Tranquility module and a seven-window observation portal dubbed the Cupola. Once theyre installed, the $100 billion station will be about 98 percent complete. Construction began in 1998.

Space rooms and windows

Both Tranquility and the Cupola were built by the European Space Agency , which has sent more than 100 people to come watch Endeavour launch their handiwork into space.

Tranquility is a new $382 million room designed to house the stations life support and exercise gear, as well as a robotic arm control station. The Cupola is a $27.2 million dome with six windows arranged around a large central portal for optimum viewing of the Earth and space.

Endeavours flight comes less than a week after President Barack Obama ordered NASA to scrap its current plan to replace the shuttle fleet with new Orion spacecraft and their Ares rockets to send American astronauts into space and on to the moon.

“Its a lot like a baby growing up, a child leaving the house,” said ESA space station program manager Bernardo Patti.

Shuttle officials said the radical shift has left some workers in shock, but they are still focused on the near-term goal of launching Endeavour safely.

Instead, the administration released a 2011 budget request for NASA that would set aside funding to develop new technologies and support commercially built spacecraft that could send astronauts back to the moon or to asteroids or Mars faster than the old path.

Sundays launch will mark the 34th flight for Endeavour and is NASAs 130th shuttle mission since its reusable space planes began launching in 1981.

“Its kind of one of those uncertainties about where were going to go next,” said Mike Moses, NASAs shuttle launch integration manager.

SPACE.com is providing complete coverage of Endeavours STS-130 mission to the International Space Station with Managing Editor Tariq Malik in Cape Canaveral and Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in New York. Click here for shuttle mission updates and a link to NASA TV. Live coverage begins at 11:30 p.m. ET. Original Story: NASA to Launch Space Shuttle on Super Bowl Sunday SPACE.com offers rich and compelling content about space science, travel and exploration as well as astronomy, technology, business news and more. The site boasts a variety of popular features including our space image of the day and other space pictures,space videos, Top 10s, Trivia, podcasts and Amazing Images submitted by our users. Join our community, sign up for our free newsletters and register for our RSS Feeds today!

“Its going to be a beautiful launch. Youll be able to see it all the way up the East Coast and were looking forward to it,” Leinbach said. “The team is energized. Were ready to go.” NASAs Final Night Shuttle Launch Visible From Eastern U.S. Video - Behind the Scenes of Endeavours STS-130 Mission Images - Space Shuttles Midnight Launch