Space Shuttle Endeavour sits on Launch Pad 39A in preparation for mission STS-118, scheduled for launch on August 7, 2007. Visible behind the shuttle is the rotating service structure, which can enclose the shuttle during processing. Also present is the fixed service structure, identifiable by the 80-foot-tall lightning mast that towers above it.

At right is the 290-foot-tall water tank which provides the deluge over the mobile launcher platform for sound suppression during liftoff. The water system is designed to protect the Shuttle from acoustical energy reflected from the Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP) during launch. After adding the system, the sound pressure was reduced by half.

Endeavour is scheduled to launch on mission STS-118 on August 7, 2007. During the mission, Endeavour will carry into orbit the S5 truss, SPACEHAB module and external stowage platform 3.

The mission is the 22nd flight to the International Space Station and will mark the first flight of Mission Specialist Barbara Morgan, the teacher-turned-astronaut whose association with NASA began more than 20 years ago.

STS-118 will be the first flight since 2002 for Endeavour, which has undergone extensive modifications, including the addition of safety upgrades already added to orbiters Discovery and Atlantis.

• NASA's STS-118: Teaching the Future Through ISS Assembly
• NASA Powers Up Space Shuttle Endeavour
• All About the Space Shuttle

--NASA and SPACE.com Staff

Credit: NASA/Ken Thornsley