NASA's
space shuttle Endeavour rolled out of its Florida spaceport hangar Monday to move
one step closer towards a planned August launch.
Endeavour completed
the short trek from its hangar to the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building
at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral at about 8:00 a.m. EDT
(1600 GMT), NASA officials said.
Over the
next week, the 100-ton spacecraft will be mated to its external fuel tank and
solid rocket boosters for the planned Aug.
7 launch of NASA's STS-118 mission to the International Space Station
(ISS). The shuttle is due to begin the slow 3.4-mile (5.4-kilometer) trip to Launch
Pad 39A at about 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) on July 9, KSC spokesperson Manny
Virata told SPACE.com.
Commanded
by veteran shuttle flyer Scott Kelly, Endeavour's STS-118 mission will deliver about
5,000 pounds (2,267 kilograms) of cargo and a new piece of the space station's
starboard truss to the orbital laboratory.
The
shuttle's seven-astronaut crew includes educator-astronaut
Barbara Morgan, whom NASA first selected more than 20 years ago to serve as
backup to schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe during the agency's Teacher in Space
program. McAuliffe and six NASA astronauts died during the 1986
Challenger accident.
Endeavour's
STS-118 mission will mark the shuttle's first flight since late 2002. The
orbiter was taken out of service for a scheduled overhaul.
During that
time, engineers equipped the spacecraft with a new system to siphon power from
the ISS rather than draw on its own supplies. The upgrade will allow Endeavour
to stay in space a few days longer than previous missions, NASA has said.
While
engineers prepare Endeavour for flight, NASA is also awaiting the planned
Tuesday return of the space shuttle Atlantis to KSC.
Atlantis
and its STS-117 astronaut crew landed
on June 22 at California's Edwards Air Force Base after a successful 14-day
construction mission to the ISS. The modified jumbo jet ferrying Atlantis from
California to KSC began the flight Sunday and is currently at Fort Campbell in
Kentucky. It is due to take off for KSC as early as 6:15 a.m. EDT (1015 GMT)
Tuesday morning weather permitting, Virata said.
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