NASA Officially Sets Earlier Launch Date for Shuttle Endeavour

by Tariq Malik, Staff Writer

Date: 28 June 2007 Time: 06:23 PM ET

NASA Aims to Launch Shuttle Endeavour Two Days Early

The seven-astronaut crew of NASA's STs-118 are pictured from the left are astronauts Richard Mastracchio, mission specialist; Barbara Morgan, a mission specialist and NASA's first educator astronaut; Charles Hobaugh, pilot; Scott Kelly, commander; Tracy Caldwell, Canadian Space Agency's Dafydd Williams, and Alvin Drew Jr., all mission specialists. The crewmembers are attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits.
CREDIT: NASA.

NASA mission managers decided Thursday to bump up the planned August launch of the shuttle Endeavour, giving the spacecraft's seven-astronaut crew a head start on a what is expected to be a busy month for spaceflight.

Initially targeted for an Aug. 9 launch, Endeavour's STS-118 crew is now on track to fly two days early on what will be the orbiter's first spaceflight since 2002. The extra time will give NASA added flexibility to launch Endeavour from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) between the planned Aug. 3 flight of the agency's Mars Phoenix lander and the Aug. 11 liftoff of an Atlas 5 rocket from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

"They did elect to move the target date to Aug. 7 to increase our launch opportunities," NASA spokesperson Kyle Herring, of the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, told SPACE.com.

The move will allow more time between the launch of Endeavour from KSC and the Atlas 5 rocket carrying the U.S. military's Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite. The planned space shots, as well as the earlier Phoenix launch, will liftoff over the Eastern Test Range that encompasses both KSC and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Range restrictions typically call for a 48-hour buffer period between the launches.

Commanded by veteran shuttle flyer Scott Kelly, Endeavour's STS-118 mission will deliver a new starboard-side piece of the International Space Station (ISS) and haul fresh cargo to the orbital laboratory.

The STS-118 crew also includes educator-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who has waited more than 20 years to fly aboard a shuttle since she was first chosen as backup for schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe during NASA's Teacher in Space program. McAuliffe and six NASA astronauts died during the 1986 Challenger accident.

Endeavour's planned 11-day mission will mark NASA's second of the year to continue assembly of the ISS. The shuttle Atlantis successfully completed a 14-day mission on June 22 and NASA hopes to launch up to three more shuttle flights in 2007.

SPACE.com Video Interplayer: Space Station Power Up with STS-117
IMAGES: Atlantis Shuttle's STS-117 Launch Day
Complete Shuttle Mission Coverage